Climate Smart Coffee Production: Embracing Shade
Country : YemenRegion : DhamarYear : 2022Project Theme : Value Chain DevelopmentBeneficiaries : 300Impact : Climate-Smart Partners : Lavazza Foundation, RD2 Vision, Qima CoffeeThe team conducted an in-depth study on shade and its implications for coffee farms, and the findings concluded that 66% of the farms benefited from the adoption of shade. Highly controllable artificial shade emerged as a potential mitigation strategy whilst shade trees grew to form, and provide, sufficient coverage. This intervention demonstrated potential production benefits, and an added advantage of protecting trees from destructive hailstorms often experienced at higher altitudes.
In further steps, under this project,a comprehensive study was commissioned to explore the potential of both artificial and natural shade, amplified through the use of Tun trees. This investigation is taking place on the Qima model farm at the moment, which was established in conjunction with this project.
Embracing shade is one of the emerging climate-smart strategies that can safeguard Yemen's coffee industry against climate risks and extremes. By carefully examining the benefits of different shading options, coffee producers can make contextually relevant and informed decisions that allow them to adapt and thrive in the face of a changing climate.
Yemen's coffee-growing lands are facing unprecedented stress due to the adverse effects of climate change, resulting from extreme weather conditions, rising temperatures, and reduced rainfall. For this project, Qima acquired 20 years of monthly climate data for Yemen’s entire geography, representing 5680 locations and more than 1 million data points.
The data revealed that Yemen represents the driest coffee growing country in the world, with average annual rainfalls of <400mm. Furthermore, it showed a startling 63% decline in land potentially suitable for coffee cultivation, signalling extreme climatic stress faced by Yemen’s coffee farmers.
The idea behind this project was to implement climate-smart strategies to sustain and extend the lifespan of coffee-growing regions. Shade emerged as one of the proposed water-conservative solutions.. However, the introduction, implementation and maintenance of shade often incurs added costs for coffee producers. Reduced sunlight could lead to decreased photosynthesis, negatively impacting plant growth and production. Thus, calculating the optimal level of shade became central to achieving the envisioned outcomes.