To the political question whether climate change is real or surreal, the inevitable answer that emerges is that "it as real as can be". Climate change is seen manifested in every activity that is aligned with agriculture and forestry, affecting even the coffee and tea drinking habits of those who reach out for their everyday dose of caffeine.
The decline in coffee harvests comes as a direct result of changing precipitation patterns, its timing, dry spells, pollution and increase in temperatures. Countries like Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua – that grow coffee and tea for the world market are reeling under a direct impact of climate change even as their exports dwindle. It is not just the quantity but the quality of the coffee beans that took a beating under climate change as coffee growers witnessed their annual incomes dwindling to about 90%.
Coffee has an upper temperature limit, beyond which the yields decline considerably while increase in temperatures have forced growers to seek higher altitudes. Coffee growers tend to diversify into other crops as they look to adaptation strategies and not just long-term mitigation to counter global warming. Some of the efforts include testing heat-resistant coffee varieties and planting shade trees alongside coffee plantations to reduce the temperatures for better yield.
Coffee drinkers need to shun coffee grown on cleared forests land and instead seek environmentally friendly coffee beans that are organic and shade-grown.
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