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13/14
For how long will Ugandan farmers continue to rely on the
unpredictable weather? Climate change is certainly a global
problem; why has Vietnam which has just come out of war,
surpassedUganda in coffee production?
In Vietnam, coffee farmers have been adapting their farming
methods to the effects of climate change. It is reported that
coffee farmers in Vietnam have adequate knowledge and
instruments, which arepackaged in a toolboxwithguidelines,
trainingmaterialsandother informationabout how toadapt to
climate change.
In comparison to Uganda; Vietnamese smallholder farmers
harvest onaverage40bagsper hectare, four timesmore than
Ugandan farmers, which on average produces 10 bags of
green coffee per hectare or 250kg of green coffee per acre.
These farmers had never set their eyes on a coffee tree until
25 years ago whereas Uganda is known as the birthplace of
Robusta coffeewith an enormous genetic resource pool, and
somany different varieties some of which used to grow in the
wild.
In Vietnam, harnessing technologies such as irrigation and
understandingRobustacoffeephysiologyhasenabled farmers
tobecome themost productiveRobustacoffeegrowers in the
world. This has come with government policy support, key
planning and subsidies.Market liberalization and land reforms
during the late 1980s and 1990s, also enabled the farmers
to expand the industry and reap the benefits from the profits
created.
Vietnam has developed a very successful monoculturemodel
for Robusta. Very high yields havebeen the key toprofitability,
asRobusta is a relatively simple crop togrow and toprocess.
The Vietnam coffee industry is concentrated in five provinces
known as the Central Highlands. In the 20 year period from
1980 to 2000 coffee production grew from 8 400 tonnes to
900 000 tonnes, averagingmore than 26 percent growth per
year. Vietnam is now the second largest coffee producer in
the world and is the largest Robusta producer in the world
producing approximately 10percent of theworld’s coffee.
Pickinga leaf fromothers
Ugandaneeds topicka leaf from these farmers;what is it that
they dodifferent?
Regrettably the choices available to the large producer may
not be available or applicable to small family farmerswho are
morevulnerableand lack thefinancesorknow-how tomoveor
adapt themselves.Oneattempt tohelp small farmers respond
to the threat of climate change is the Coffee and Climate
initiative, which brings together examples of best practice as
well as information on scientific discoveries.
The Coffee and Climate tool box is a compilation of
methodologies, guidelinesand trainingmaterialswhichenable
farmers to cope with climate change. It provides a platform
to exchange knowledge on known and innovative adaptation
practices and bridges the gap between science and farmer
know-how. The coffee and climate approach provides a
systematic, comprehensive and practical way of addressing
changing climatic conditions in the field through a continuous
learning process. It is a cycle of components including local
risk assessment, identification of potential solutions, field
validation and continuousmonitoring and evaluation.
It involves:
·
Setting the scene;
·
Assessment of climate change challenges;
·
Adaptation planning;
·
Validation and implementation of adaptation options;
·
Systematisation of lessons learned.
Amani Fungo, a coffee farmer in Tanzania, feels this has
been an invaluable tool. “We’ve had very drastic changes in
our weather andwater hadbegun drying up, especially in
some of the rivers. So therewas awater shortage. But
we’ve improved ourmethods and found that plants and
small bushes can cover the coffee plants that are growing
andmake it cool for them, sowe need lesswater,” he says.
“We learned how todo this through theCoffee andClimate
Initiative programme.”
The toolbox developed by the Swedish International
Development Cooperation (SIDA) has also been used in
other coffee growing countries like Tanzania and Guatemala.
The initiative is also supported by the German Agency for
International Cooperation (GIZ).
Cutting losses –Thepracticabilityof options
Shifting tomoresuitableareas:
Tomitigate the losses from
warmer temperatures, large coffee producers are moving to
higher altitudes and expanding coffee to new growing areas
in Brazil. They are also trying to increase the use of irrigation
though it isachallenge in someareasdue to the lackofwater.
However here in Uganda, farmers in Mbale and Kapchorwa
do not have that luxury because of the primitive land tenure
systems inUganda. Already land inEasternUganda likemany
parts of Uganda is heavily fragmented with no new areas for
opening. In addition to this coffee faces a lot of competition
with other crops and ventures and therefore the immediate
option is gap filling. Government through Uganda Coffee
Development Authority last year supported the farmers in
Mt. Elgon Area with 2.5Million seedlings out of the 57Million
seedlings distributed countrywide in 2013/2014 coffee year.
