coffee production during climate change

The Impact of Climate Change on Coffee Production

Coffee Production – Climate change is a natural process that is continuous in the long term. This has an impact on life, especially in the agricultural sector. This field is highly dependent on the extent and rate of climate change on the one hand and the nature and flexibility of resources and production systems. For this reason, experts must conduct various studies on climate change and its impact on the agricultural sector. Both in terms of resources, infrastructure, agricultural systems, and national food security. In the future, agricultural development may face the following serious problems:

  • Decreased productivity and production sloping which of course requires technological innovation
  • Degradation of land and water resources resulting in decreased fertility, and pollution
  • Climate variability and change resulting in floods and droughts
  • Transfer of function and fragmentation of agricultural land.

Climate change is believed to have a negative impact on various aspects of life and the development sector, especially the agricultural sector. Because it is feared that it will bring new problems to the sustainability of agricultural production, especially food crops. This climate change was seen in last year’s coffee crisis. This was very evident in the coffee crisis in Brazil due to the extreme climate that caused coffee harvests to fail.

The case of the coffee crisis in Brazil

coffee production

Severe drought over the past decades hit Brazil in the 2020/2021 season. Soil moisture in coffee plantation areas such as Sao Paulo, Triangular Mineira, and Minas Gerais is only around 20%. It is far from a good standard of soil moisture for coffee plants, which is 60%. The impact of this drought has reduced Brazil’s coffee production in 2021 by 25% to 30% (coffee farmers’ version). It will greatly affect the world’s supply of coffee beans, even if Brazil has a big harvest in 2022, buyers will still find it difficult to fulfill their needs. In 2022 Brazil’s coffee harvest is only half of last year. This decline is in addition to the effect of the decline in Brazil’s coffee production as well as the decline in coffee exports from Colombia.

The decline tends to be even greater than the decline due to drought. In fact, more than 30% of Brazil’s coffee production fails due to the destruction of coffee plantation centers in Brazil, especially in the state of Minas Gerais. 

Impact on Indonesian coffee production

coffee production

Indonesia experienced a decline of more than 10% in the 2021 harvest season, this was due to high rainfall. Replanting will certainly take a relatively long time, ranging from 3 to 4 years. In this rainy season, the growth of coffee cherries grows around 1500-2500 mm per year with an average dry month of 1-3 months and an average temperature of 15-25 ˚C. The impact is visible when harvesting during high rainfall because ripe coffee cherries will easily fall to the ground and if left unchecked will undergo fermentation or decay.

Decrease in the Quality of Coffee Production

In addition, coffee cherries that are still on the branches will crack, where the fruit surface has visible and significant cracks. Cracking can occur because the coffee plant absorbs too much water quickly. This causes the coffee cherry skin cells to “over-expand” so that they appear like cracks. These significant cracks will certainly reduce the quality of the coffee produced. The slime of the coffee fruit will seep out with the flesh of the fruit exposed. The flesh of the fruit will affect the sweetness of the coffee. In addition, the weight of the coffee fruit will also decrease.

That’s what causes coffee cherries to be imperfect and produce a low cupping score (because a lot of the sweet slime from coffee cherries seeps out). In addition, the weight of the cherries will also decrease and be lighter. In other words, coffee cherries can lose quite a lot of flesh which generally affects the sweetness factor of coffee. The industry is feeling the global impact from late 2021. There will be a significant shortage of the world’s coffee bean supply. The coffee bean crisis will last a long time, global coffee prices will certainly rise. Not only for arabica but also robusta coffee beans as an arabica substitution commodity. The short coffee harvest period results in delays in peeling the coffee cherry skin (over fermented) so that the quality of the coffee decreases. 

Anticipation of farmers on climate change

Rainforest Alliance researchers also calculated that coffee production might survive because farmers don’t give up on this commodity by looking for areas with temperatures that are still the same. The farmers will rise to higher ground, to the mountains that are still forested. As a result, the threat of deforestation is unstoppable, unless the farmers are aware and understand by practicing agroforestry techniques. In addition, mitigation activities in the plantation sub-sector are efforts made by plantation businesses to reduce sources of greenhouse gas emissions, while adaptation is an adjustment action to deal with the negative impacts of climate change that threaten the productivity of plantation crops. For that reason, PT. Kopen Kopi Nusantara provides education to farmers to overcome or anticipate a coffee crisis due to climate change or increased rainfall. In addition, we also offer education about coffee harvest production management to farmers.

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