Climate change threatens Latin America coffee producers

WASHINGTON: Climate change is threatening the Latin American zones most favourable for growing coffee, according to a study out Monday that warns seed production could drop by nearly 90 per cent by 2050.

The study suggests high quality coffees are most at risk – with Arabica coffee unable to withstand even slight fluctuations in temperature, humidity and sunlight.

Robusta coffee, mostly grown in Africa to be made into instant coffee, is slightly more resistant.

“Coffee is one of the most valuable commodities on Earth, and needs a suitable climate and pollinating bees to produce well,” said study co-author Taylor Ricketts, director of the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Environment.

“This is the first study to show how both will likely change under global warming – in ways that will hit coffee producers hard.”

During the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), researchers estimated changes in Arabica coffee distribution in Latin America among 39 species of pollinating bees.

They concluded a temperature increase of over 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (two degrees Celsius) by 2050 will reduce seed production by between 73 per cent and 88 per cent in locations best known for coffee production today. — AFP