Climate change has a significant impact on farms, including coffee farms. Weather uncertainties such as rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and irregular rainfall can disrupt plant growth cycles, leading to decreased production and quality of harvests.
According to an article written by Bilen et al. (2023), climate change, such as rising global temperatures and unstable rainfall patterns, will reduce global coffee production and narrow the suitable land for coffee cultivation by 2050.
Amid the increasing climate change challenges, small-scale coffee farmers continue to adapt and strive to ensure coffee production remains stable.
Riniaty Bulawan, one of the board members of Koperasi Mitra Petani Toraja, a coffee cooperative in Toraja, South Sulawesi has around 10 years of experience in the coffee sector. Her role as a sustainable coffee master trainer plays a role in producing new coffee trainers around Toraja and Sulawesi Island.
About climate change and coffee plantations, Rini stated in a discussion titled “A Cup of Coffee in the Era of Climate Change: Adaptation, Challenges, and Hopes of Small scale Farmers” held on Tuesday, 1st of October, 2024, that unpredictable weather in general has led to a decrease in coffee production.
“We are a bit overwhelmed because we cannot predict whether it will be sunny or rainy,” Rini said in a discussion organized by the TAU via Instagram Live.
Prolonged heat causes coffee plants to dry out, while excessive rain hampers flowering. Additionally, warmer temperatures and humidity increase the risk of pests and diseases in coffee farms. This impacts farmers’ livelihoods. However, unlike 2020 to 2023, Rini referred to 2024 as a good year, as a result of the dry season in 2023.
According to reports from NASA and NOAA, 2023 was one of the hottest years in the last 173 years. It was noted that the average surface temperature of the earth’s land and oceans in 2023 was 1,18 degrees Celcius higher than that of the 20th century.
Despite this, farmers continue to adapt to survive. One of the adaptations is processing coffee beans into ground coffee powder to give additional value to their decreased harvest volume. Another adaptation practice is multi-cropping or planting other types of crops in coffee plantations, the harvest is either for sale or for self-consumption, but it is meant to compensate for the income that they have lost from coffee. These crops include peanuts and ginger, which also help maintain soil moisture.
Another effort is to adopt a new variety of coffee that is much different from the Lini S variety that is common in Toraja. “Two coffee varieties that were introduced to farmers are Komasti and Andongsari 2K, which during the pilot have shown good results even when planted below one thousand meters above sea level. So far the coffee can still survive and grow healthily, and in one and a half years, the coffee plants will be ready to bear fruit.,” she emphasized.
The adoption of the new variety was supported by the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Center (Pusat Penelitian Kopi dan Kakao Indonesia – Puslitkoka) in collaboration with FIT-LESTARI Canada through the program for Women Empowerment, Agriculture Innovation, and Climate Change (Program Pemberdayaan Perempuan, Inovasi Pertanian dan Perubahan Iklim – PERSIPPI).
Although climate change has posed significant challenges for coffee agriculture, farmers do not give up. They continue to develop various adaptations to preserve the coffee in every cup we enjoy. This shows that although climate change alters many aspects of coffee production, the spirit and innovation of farmers remain key to surviving and even thriving in uncertain situations.
