Impacts of Climate Change and Strategies on Small Holder Coffee Plantations in Latin America

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ABSTRACT

Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world and serves a livelihood for over 100 million small-holder farmers worldwide. Future projections of a 2°C increase or more in 2030 to 2050 have shown that countries in Latin America can face up to 90% losses. Climate change is exacerbating pathogens such as coffee leaf rust, and pests such as the coffee borer beetle and desertification affecting the absorption and release of GHGs. The purpose of this paper was to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of various policy tools for climate mitigation and adaptation on coffee production in Latin America. Interviews were conducted by non-random sampling of three key informants with seniority experience in the coffee sector from the Galápagos Island, Ecuador, Nariño Colombia, and Chiapas, México. The overall themes were mitigation and adaptation, impact of climate change, socioeconomic impacts, and accessibility of government policies and tools. The major findings were that SDG 2; doubling the amount of agriculture and income for small-scale producers had constraining effects to soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate-induced migration. Policies lack access to credit, irrigation technology, biopesticides and education programs across cooperatives and individual farmers. Increasing transparency on equitable pricing structures, and public and private partnerships can help achieve positive synergies of SDG 1. Government instruments should invest in biopesticides, irrigation technology and Rainforest-alliance certified coffee. Policies should integrate SDGs with cognitive mapping, and social safety insurance to meet domestic or international commitments in sustainably managing the future of coffee and farmers’ livelihoods.