How climate change could affect Ethiopia's coffee future
The country's largest export could be under threat
In my interview with Aster Mengesha, we briefly mentioned the impact of environmental changes on Ethiopia’s coffee production. It goes without saying that climatic changes have an impact on the growth of any crop, but the extent to which Ethiopia relys on economic output from it’s coffee sector means the consequences of climate change in Ethiopia could be dire.
A joint project between Royal Botantic Gardens at Kew in London and Ethiopia’s Environment and Coffee Forest Forum have fairly recently concluded a project aimed at building climate resilience within Ethiopia’s coffee industry.
You can read more about the project and its outcomes on Kew’s website, but I’ve listed some of the core messages from the project below.
The climate of Africa and Ethiopia has changed and will continue to change throughout this century. Ethiopia has experienced an increase in temperature of around 0.3 degrees celsius per decade, impacting on coffee production.
Coffee growing in Ethiopia has already been negatively influenced by deforestation. Growing coffee in Ethiopia relies on good forest cover - it provides good conditions for cultivation, increases humidity and preserves soil moisture.
Migration to new areas suitable for coffee growing will be key to resilience in the sector as the climate changes. Many areas that are suitable for coffee growing in the present day will become less suitable in the future, and in some cases unsuitable. Conversely, substantial areas that were previously unsuitable for coffee farming will become suitable.
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