initiative for coffee&climate

Climate Heroes: Betty’s Coffee Nursery Business

hrnsadmin — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 13:00:25 +0000

Betty Ndugga from Luwero District in central Uganda started a coffee nursery in her village out of the necessity to restore her livelihood. Today, she uses her business to empower fellow women, help the farming community overcome coffee diseases and advance reforestation.

Luwero has long been a farming community with an estimated 85% of residents engaged in agriculture. For Betty, her early years in the countryside hold good memories. Her parents grew plenty of food crops and coffee which they sold to give her an education. After she finished school and later got married, she moved from Luwero to the capital city Kampala. There she began a young family and set up a clothing retail store, with promises of a great future ahead.

Unfortunately, Betty’s life took a hard left turn in 2013 when she tragically lost her husband. As a single mother, she fell on very hard times and decided to move back to her small farming community in Luwero to take over her parent’s lucrative coffee plantation which they willingly passed on to her. However, when she returned, she found that all her parent’s coffee had dried up and succumbed to Coffee Wilt Disease (CWD).

Coffee Wilt Disease (CWD)

CWD is a fungal coffee disease which is exasperated by the effects of climate change such as higher temperatures. The disease causes disruptions to the water uptake of the coffee plant which leads to the drying of the leaves and branches, inevitably resulting in the death of the entire plant. If not controlled, CWD can spread to other plants and wipe out entire plantations. According to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), CWD which was first discovered in Uganda in 1993 has destroyed around 200 million plants in the country.

However, following the outbreak, the National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI) in Uganda soon developed a solution to CWD. They scientifically generated 10 Coffee Wilt Disease-resistant (CWD-r) varieties, commonly referred to as “KR-lines” (KR1 – KR10) of Robusta Coffee. The KR-lines are hybrids of coffee varieties that are resistant to disease, varieties that are high-yielding and varieties that are fast maturing. They are created through an ancient technique called grafting. Hereby tissues of two different plants are joint. They keep growing together, combining the properties of both “parent” plants. Like this, issues like disease susceptibility and low-yielding can be overcome.

Coffee Wilt Disease-resistant (CWD-r) varieties/lines (KR1 – KR10)

It was when Betty joined a local farmer field school in 2013 that she learned about improved coffee varieties. The farmer field school was implemented by Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) under an initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) project. The aim was to train coffee farmers on locally appropriate adaptation measures to the effects of climate change. Using the c&c approach developed in c&c phase I, solutions in the form of tools, concepts and information were shared with Betty and thousands of other farmers in Luwero.

With the knowledge she gained through that project, Betty decided to start her very own nursery business in 2014. She began a mother garden of seven disease-resistant, high-yielding coffee varieties and invested in building a small structure to house her seedlings. c&c supported her by providing the seedlings, a water tank and other farm tools. Later, through the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) Phase 1 project (funded by FAO and implemented by HRNS) Betty was supported to build a better nursery structure as well as install a solar-powered irrigation system.

Betty’s coffee nursery and mother garden

Betty has 7000 plants in her mother garden of seven different coffee varieties (KR1 – KR7.) At the beginning of her business, Betty used to give seedlings out to the farmers in her community for free. She did this because she wanted to advance reforestation – a cause she gladly took on as her new purpose in life.

Today Betty sells her seedlings to the UCDA and they distribute them to farmers. She is a role model for other women in her community whom she empowers by employing them to work in her nursery and mother garden. Female empowerment is another cause she is passionate about because she knows how hard it is to be a single mother/widow and raise children alone.

The women that Betty employs to provide an income for them

I am grateful for the knowledge that enabled me to start my business as well as for the connection to FAO who constructed a better structure for my nursery.

Betty Ndugga

Project Participant, initiative for coffee&climate

With continued support from the c&c Uganda team, Betty is advancing her nursery business and moving her coffee farming community forward. We have dubbed her as a “Climate Hero” because she advocates for the growth of shade trees alongside improved coffee seedlings. This agroforestry can contribute to reducing carbon dioxide in the air and as a result, mitigate climate change. It will also hopefully protect coffee farmers against rises in temperature which are predicted to continue to put a strain on coffee production in the future.

The post Climate Heroes: Betty’s Coffee Nursery Business appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

Climate Heroes: Elieza and Meliha’s Climate-smart Solutions

hrnsadmin — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 08:10:51 +0000

Aside from its beautiful hilly landscapes, waterfalls, flora, and fauna, the Mbeya region is known for being the breadbasket of Tanzania. The southern highlands of the country have enough rainfall and fertile soil that enables almost effortless growth of coffee (Arabica), tea, cocoa, maize, rice, bananas, beans, potatoes, sunflower, wheat, and other crops. Among the smallholder farmers that cultivate these crops are Elieza and Meliha Mtafia. The young couple grows a variety of crops and keeps goats and cattle, but most of their income comes from coffee.

However, over the years, there has been a gradual rise in temperature during the dry season. This has made irrigating their plants a literal uphill battle between the months of June – October which are generally the dry season months in the Southern coffee growing region. Since there is an inadequate water supply in their rural village, the couple would have to trek down to the valley to fetch water from a nearby stream, then climb back up the steep slopes with about 20 litres of water on their head. They would then have to repeat the hard task several times.

How Meliha used to fetch water

The distance from Meliha’s house and the valley that she would trek down to fetch water

This, in addition to the daily collection of firewood for cooking, was extremely strenuous and time-consuming, especially for Meliha who was generally responsible for performing these domestic duties. Every day after collecting firewood, she prepared meals for her family in a small kitchen which would fill with toxic black smoke. It would choke her into fits of coughing and burn her eyes and in the long term, it would surely be detrimental to her health. Aside from the negative effects on her health, the fumes from the firewood created greenhouse gases, and the continuous cutting of branches and small trees was contributing to deforestation.

As the dry season gave way to the rainy season, another problem arose. The rains were seemingly heavier and lasted longer than in previous years. Consequently, they were washing away much of the fertile soil in the couple’s farm. They were not able to restore their soil’s fertility by applying fertilizers because the price of fertilizers more than doubled. Their cattle further aggravated this soil erosion problem when they would roam around to graze, leading to land degradation. Ultimately, these environmental challenges that are the side effects of climate change meant the couple’s coffee yields were significantly lower than they potentially could be.

Elieza and his family’s three cows

However, in 2016 Elieza and Meliha learned that the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) was offering training on climate-smart practices for coffee farmers in their village and they registered to participate in the training sessions. The project is being implemented by Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS). Through the training, the couple learned about interesting solutions that would solve many of their problems.

Eventually, their exemplary and consistent adoption of the climate-smart practices they learned through the c&c training sessions paid off. Their problem of erosion was minimized by the application of live mulch. They learned a cheap alternative to using pesticides by using alcohol pest traps. They dug trenches to collect water during the rainy season and planted bananas in their coffee garden to increase the amount of shade for their coffee during the dry season.

The couple also attended gender training sessions which encouraged even distribution of domestic and farm labor so that Meliha could have more time on her hands to access the c&c training sessions and other opportunities. Farming families were sensitized to the benefits of joint decision-making on household expenditure and planning. This ultimately positively impacted the couple’s overall yields, income, and household development.

“We used to harvest 400 kg of coffee from our 4 acres per season but after applying the recommendations, we eventually harvested 1,900 kgs!”

Elieza Mtafia

Project Participant, initiative for coffee&climate

With the increased income, the couple was able to invest in pipes that could tap a nearby underground water source and direct it to their house. Finally, Meliha could say goodbye to the struggle of hiking down to the valley to fetch water! They also were able to comfortably afford to send their young children to school without the worry that they wouldn’t be able to raise the school fees.

Meliha (left) their children and Elieza (right)

Since Elieza and Meliha are role models in their community and great project participants, they were selected to host a biogas demonstration plot. The c&c project built a biogas digester on their plot and showed the couple how to use it. First, they create a slurry by mixing the waste from their cattle with water. This is loaded to the underground biogas digester where eventually a gas called methane is produced. This gas is channeled with a tube that runs underground into their house, and through the kitchen wall to their stove. It can then fuel the fire for cooking – with no smoke created! Once all the methane is extracted from the slurry, the leftover mixture can be used to water their crops as it is essentially manure. This is an important additional perk because the couple could no longer afford fertilizers which had increased from Tsh 50,000 (21 Euro) to Tsh 120,000 (50 Euro).

“I used to suffer to collect firewood but now with the biogas, I am relieved. Now there is more peace in the household as we share the domestic and farm labor more equally and plan the household budget together.”

Meliha Mtafia

Project Participant, initiative for coffee&climate

Integrating these climate-smart solutions on their farm has not only enabled the couple to adapt to climate change but also to mitigate it as they no longer contribute to deforestation or greenhouse gas emissions. Many of their neighbors come to visit their home and farm to see their biogas installation and the other climate-smart practices they have implemented. It is a great way for them to educate and inspire their neighbors about what is possible. In the future, Elieza and Meliha plan to build a better house and continue to invest in their coffee so that they can educate their young children until the level of university. Their short-term goal is to invest in a domestic water harvesting tank and expand their coffee acreage with traditional disease-resistant coffee seedlings.

The post Climate Heroes: Elieza and Meliha’s Climate-smart Solutions appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

Communities of Practice: Fostering Knowledge and Exchange of Learnings

hrnsadmin — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 02:00:51 +0000

Climate change is intensifying and is putting the future of the entire coffee sector at risk. Researchers estimate that over the course of 30 years, roughly half of the land used to grow coffee will decrease and will no longer be suitable for coffee production. With effects from climate change rising at an alarming pace, higher temperatures are significantly impacting coffee cultivation at lower elevations. Many farmers are looking to move to higher altitude areas (often under forest coverage) to increase farm size and profitability. This is not only having a strong impact on how coffee is grown but is also putting the livelihoods of smallholder families, environmental sustainability, and entire agricultural landscapes at stake.

In order to increase the overall climate resilience of landscapes, production systems, and sustainable rural livelihoods, the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) calls for innovation, engagement from the sector, and willingness to work together.

c&c’s approach equips smallholder families with skills and tools to improve their resilience to climate change and shape climate-smart regions. An important element within this approach are local and regional learning networks that exchange information, lessons learned, and experiences on climate action – so-called Communities of Practice (CoP).

What are Communities of Practice?

c&c’s CoPs are locally managed groups that unite different members of the private sector, institutions, and farmer organizations. All members share the common interest of increasing the climate resilience of entire coffee landscapes, share best practices, exchange on lessons learned, and support in the development of joint sector solutions.

CoPs provide a structured framework for members to meet regularly, share information, and exchange on relevant regional climate topics to develop solutions that can then be applied to their own organizations, structures, and communities. Each CoP undertakes specific topics that address main problems identified in the region.

As a space for engagement, shared knowledge, interpersonal relationships, and entrepreneurship, CoPs are held on a pre-competitive basis together with local institutions (e.g. coffee institutes, universities, or research organizations). They are a key format to disseminate the generated knowledge of c&c under a local ownership framework. By bringing together important local stakeholders, CoPs can foster local collaborations that help strengthen climate adaptation and mitigation on-site.

Communities of Practice in the Trifinio Region of Honduras

Building on successful experiences with the development of CoPs in Brazil, c&c’s goal is to scale this approach and promote CoPs at a global level. “In Central America, c&c has been working with Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) and other local partners to establish new CoPs in the region”, explains Pablo Ruiz, Executive Director of HRNS in Central America. “To date, two CoPs have been assembled in the Trifinio Region of Honduras, addressing the urgent topics of climate change and inclusion (gender and youth).”

It is women, more than men, who are disproportionately more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This is not only because women perform up to 90 % of the agricultural work on farms, but also because of other challenges they face: They often have less access to opportunities and decision-making power than men. This increases their vulnerability to climate change and deprives them of their ability to manage its impacts. In Honduras, 2.2 million women live in rural areas. With limited access to resources, knowledge, and technical assistance, many of them have not been able to live up to their capacities and fully achieve their dreams. “Even though there are several actors and institutions supporting rural women in the region, their interventions are not fully aligned”, states Ruiz. “Creating an Inclusion CoP brought these actors together so they could discuss, exchange, and align.”

With a total of 13 active members, including organizations, government institutions, and farmer organizations, the “Inclusion CoP” is developing solutions for women. It offers improved services, creates inclusive actions to support their participation in the coffee value chain, accelerates gender equality actions, and promotes positive gender norms at a community and institutional level. Through a series of monthly forums, presentations, workshops, and meetings, the CoP is also addressing decision-making power, even distribution of responsibilities among household and farm work, access to production resources, and leadership roles, among other topics.

“As part of the Inclusion and Gender CoP, a forum was recently held on June 2, 2022, in Ocotepeque, Honduras to analyze existing public policies related to gender and the coffee sector”, describes Fredy Menendez, Project Coordinator at HRNS in Central America. “The forum brought together 15 municipal mayors from the departments of Copán and Ocotepeque, Honduras, coordinators of municipal offices for 15 municipalities, and representatives of 18 farmer organizations, to openly exchange on ways to link current policies together and find ways to put them into practice throughout institutions, organizations and municipal offices.”

In addition, the gender policy for the coffee sector was distributed by the secretary of the National Coffee Council of Honduras (CONACAFE), Omar Funez. This helps the CoP and its members to align activities with the gender policy and initiate the implementation of actions in the territory. The next meeting will take place next month.

Looking Ahead

Through CoPs, c&c seeks to further promote the exchange of methodologies and align a territorial approach. c&c is advocating for and supporting the strengthening of the two-newly established CoPs. “At the moment, we’ve reached good participation and engagement from institutions, government representatives, and farmer organizations in both CoPs”, states Ruiz. “What’s missing is putting everything into practice.” Moving forward, activities will focus on encouraging members to carry out and apply the topics that are being discussed and agreed upon. The goal is that the defined agreements and approaches are harmonized and implemented at every level.

The post Communities of Practice: Fostering Knowledge and Exchange of Learnings appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

The Coffee of Tomorrow

hrnsadmin — Wed, 25 May 2022 06:53:16 +0000

Morris and his wife Erize Mwashirindi have been growing Arabica coffee in Southern Tanzania for decades since Morris inherited his father’s land. Although Southern Tanzania experiences only one rainy season in the year, the rainfall can be quite heavy and prolonged. This causes several problems including soil erosion and the increased occurrence of fungal coffee diseases such as Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) and Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR). To add insult to injury, over the years, the couple’s coffee trees have significantly aged and are yielding fewer cherries. These challenges ultimately reduced the couple’s coffee yields and their family’s main source of income.

Morris and Erize’s aged coffee trees yield less cherries

In 2016, the couple joined training sessions offered by the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) which is being implemented by Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS). Through the training, they were made aware of how they could adapt to the challenges that climate change was bringing to their coffee production. One of the solutions to the problem of fungal diseases that they learned was to apply fungicides to prevent the occurrence of the diseases. A second and more long-term solution they were also informed about was planting disease-resistant coffee seedlings.

climate change necessitates improved coffee varieties

As an alternative to the old, low-yielding varieties that are susceptible to major coffee diseases such as CBD and CLR, HRNS distributed improved seedlings to c&c project participants. These improved seedlings are hybrids of varieties that are resistant to disease and varieties that are high-yielding. They are created through an ancient technique called grafting. Hereby tissues of two different plants are joint. They keep growing together, combining the properties of both “parent” plants. Like this, issues like disease susceptibility and low-yielding can be overcome. So far, HRNS has supplied over 30,000 new seedlings of the disease-resistant compact varieties to c&c project participants in Tanzania.

Tall Arabica hybrids of disease-resistant and high-yielding varieties that Morris and Erize planted

A business is born

Morris and Erize were extremely impressed by the yields of their improved varieties. Their harvest more than tripled when they expanded their coffee plantation by adding another 1.5 acres of improved varieties. Every season, they used to harvest about 400 kg of coffee from their 1.5 acres of old coffee plants but now they harvest about 1,250 kg of coffee from both their old and new trees. This exponential increase prompted Morris and Erize to begin a business of selling improved coffee seedlings to their community members.

“I encourage my neighbors to also get improved coffee seedlings. They are taller and their branches bring more fruits. I am sure they even taste better.” – Morris

Morris and Erize have begun a coffee nursery of improved varieties to sell to their community

The increase in income enabled the family to buy four cows and a motorbike as well as extend their house. Since all but two of their children are adults and no longer in school, they are happy to reinvest their increased income in this way. Their motorcycle helps them with all the transport needs associated with their other farm businesses/crops i.e. maize, sorghum, groundnuts, beans and peas. Their cows produce milk that they sell, and the house extension includes a small room for their improved coffee seedlings and gutters for a domestic water harvesting tank. The tank’s gutters reduce erosion around the house and the tank enables them to no longer have to fetch unclean water from the river for both domestic use and irrigation.

The family’s housing extension and water harvesting tank

The family’s motorcycle

Looking ahead

Morris and Erize have come to terms with the fact that they need to either stump their old coffee plants or completely replace them with the improved varieties. Understandably, they were initially reluctant to do so because despite the many other crops they grow for both food and income, coffee is by far their most lucrative cash crop. With continued support from the c&c Tanzania team, they will continue to improve their farm management and also encourage other farmers to grow improved seedlings. c&c is advocating for and supporting the growth of shade trees alongside the improved seedlings. This agroforestry can contribute to reducing carbon dioxide in the air and as a result, mitigate climate change. It will also hopefully protect farmers against rises in temperature which are predicted to continue to put a strain on coffee production in the future.

The post The Coffee of Tomorrow appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

“Now is the Time to Make c&c Grow to Achieve even More”

hrnsadmin — Thu, 19 May 2022 08:02:50 +0000

Interview with Kathrine Löfberg as the new c&c Chair

Kathrine Löfberg, Löfbergs, Sweden, has just been appointed as the new Chair of the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c). She follows Nanda Bergstein, Tchibo, Germany, who has been holding the mandate for two years. We spoke with Kathrine Löfberg about what is important to her and what she would like to achieve in her new position.

c&c: Welcome as our new Chair. We are happy to have you taking on this important position. What are you planning as first steps?

Kathrine Löfberg: Thank you, I am really happy to take on this responsibility. I think, right now it is important to make c&c grow and to make it achieve even more and on a larger scale. In phase I and II we focused on piloting, evaluating, and upscaling the initiative. There, we were able to build a solid foundation. We proved that our way of supporting and strengthening farmers works. Now as we are in Phase III, we want to further promote climate-resilient livelihoods, reduce carbon emissions in coffee regions, and enhance their carbon storage potential. Now is the time to make our positive results better known within the sector, strengthen existing cooperations – with farmers and also with private and public partners – and find new ones. Therefore, important steps are for us to communicate the benefits of c&c and show what it means to be part of it. We invite roasting and trading companies, farmer organizations as well as development agencies to become members. And also NGO’s and research institutes are welcome to participate in c&c.

Now is the time to make our positive results better known within the sector, strengthen existing cooperations – with farmers and also with private and public partners – and find
new ones.

Kathrine Löfberg

Chair of the Board, Löfbergs

c&c: What would you like to achieve as Chair of c&c?

Kathrine Löfberg: In the initiative for coffee&climate, we have proven over the years that united we can make a difference – the farmer families who act at the center of our work, the companies, and the public actors who support our work. As c&c Chair, I am going to lead this important work we do together. My goal is to continue the positive development and make knowledge and tools accessible to even more farmer families. And of course, I would like us to attract more partners to participate, and find new cooperations, both globally and locally. Only if we increase awareness about c&c we will manage to scale up.

c&c: To which c&c-regions have you traveled and how was your impression on-site?

Kathrine Löfberg: I have had the privilege to visit Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Brazil, among others. I have seen with my own eyes how climate change creates challenges for farmer families and other stakeholders in the coffee sector. But I have also seen how the work of c&c contributes to a positive development. A very special experience for me was attending a farmer field school in Tanzania. It was incredible to sit amongst the coffee trees, just listening and soaking up the atmosphere. It was such a real and authentic moment. The farmers shared their experiences, tips, and ideas with me. They had so much knowledge and enthusiasm, it was amazing. And I was so happy to hear them testify that it is possible to change everything for the better. On all my visits to the field, I was always most impressed by meeting committed and forward-looking farmers. That really gives me hope and shows me that the initiative is on a good track. And it shows me that our spirit of togetherness is the right direction.

c&c: c&c has been founded and is run by International Coffee Partners (ICP). Three other companies have joined the initiative by now. How do you perceive the cooperation between the members? Are there any issues as they are competitors in the market?

Kathrine Löfberg: ICP is a not-for-profit partnership of eight family-owned European coffee companies. We work together as like-minded, family-owned coffee companies that share the same values such as taking on responsibility in our sector and in society as a whole. Based on that concept, we founded c&c in 2010 to particularly focus on this important field of our work. And also within c&c, we collaborate in a pre-competitive way together with three other companies, the public partner Sida and Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) as the implementing partner. So, from our whole approach and thinking, we don’t work together as competitors but as partners with the same goals.

c&c: You have also been the Chair of ICP for 6 years. Which role does c&c play as an initiative of ICP in your eyes?

Kathrine Löfberg: As ICP, we foster a holistic approach to improve smallholder coffee farmer families’ livelihoods focusing on youth, family business, farmer organizations, and climate change adaption as well as gender as a mainstreaming topic. So, our work is based on all these different aspects of livelihoods. However, with c&c we focus particularly on climate change as its impacts are a reality for 12.4 million smallholder coffee farming families worldwide. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges for the coffee industry and it needs a sector-wide answer. That’s why we work together and that’s why we encourage more farmers, companies, and organizations to join us.

c&c Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts.

The post “Now is the Time to Make c&c Grow to Achieve even More” appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

Climate Heroes: How Rukim Makes Biochar into a Climate-Smart Business

hrnsadmin — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 06:00:45 +0000

From Husk to Dust: Making Biochar into a Business

It all started with the love of motorbikes. A group of young men, all with modified old machines would come together to hang out, drive around the village paths, talk, and make plans for the evening.

Rukim, one of the oldest in the group, had been following climate change adaptation activities in OKU Selatan, Indonesia, part of the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c), for a few years, and practicing what he had learned on his own coffee farm. c&c, implemented by Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), is a pre-competitive partnership of leading coffee companies supporting smallholder farming families to become resilient to climate change.

After some time of enthusiastic learning, he became a c&c Field Assistant. He currently supports field trainings, assists smallholders to implement climate adaptation and mitigation practices on their farms answers their questions, and controls field manuals at the farm. Within his farmer group and his community, he is seen as a climate hero and innovator. Characterized by his unselfishness and willingness to help others, he is constantly passing on his knowledge and teaching others in his community about climate adaptation.

He also draws the attention of his young friends. Some days they would ride up to Rukim’s plot on their beaten motorcycles. The track, muddy and zigzagging through dense forest, was one of their favorite trails. It was always a race to see who would get there first. Excited by the fresh water in his plot and perfect places to rest, his friends never knew what they would find Rukim doing. He always had something new going on.

He was pruning his coffee in ways they had not seen before. He was experimenting with grafting of different coffee varieties and had a barrel full of sludge that, he said, was a magic growth formula. His coffee bushes looked much healthier than on other farms, and the avocado trees he was growing around the plot were growing rapidly.

As young farmers, most of Rukim’s friends also took care of coffee plots. Some had inherited land from their parents or worked the family farm. Others already had bought small plots or were leasing them from a larger farmer. Some shared farm lots and worked them together. Seeing what Rukim was doing, motivated them to learn and do more. However, coffee farming is tough in OKU Selatan. With fluctuating coffee prices and extreme changes in weather patterns, failures are no surprise.

A year ago, Rukim’s neighbor, an agronomist also joined c&c as a field officer. They became good friends and constantly talked about possible innovations that could be introduced into the coffee sector and that were attractive enough for young farmers in coffee communities.

Together, Rukim and Waris took the initiative and formed a group of young farmers from the village of Sidodadi and named it Muda Jaya Sidodadi “Young Victorious Sidodadi”. 25 young farmers from the ages of 15 to 30 joined together to receive trainings, try out new initiatives and practice new ideas before sharing these ideas with other friends. They also exchanged ideas and started looking for business opportunities.

One of Rukim’s and Waris’ ideas was the production of biochar. Rukim had heard about the use of rice husk biochar and how it works well as a soil booster. He and Waris watched videos about the process of production and use of this husk charcoal. Knowing that rice husks were usually burned as a waste product and commonly available, they knew, that if they could make it work, they could produce this beneficial material at scale. It maybe could be made into a business.

After 3 trials on an ever-increasing scale, they showed it to the whole group and explained the benefits for the soil and how it can retain water and nutrients and significantly help production. The group banded together and collected a massive amount of rice husks from the local rice hullers, who were happy to get rid of the stuff.

With the larger trials successful, c&c is now programing further training to improve the final product, promote its use amongst farmers and help in marketing. There are great examples of biochar being mixed with chicken and goat manure that easily compete with chemical fertilizer on both price and result. Although group members and direct family members use the dusty substance in their fields, for commercial use, better packaging is needed as well as an official analysis of the compounds. Pelletizing the material for easier handling is an option. It may need a small investment, but the returns are promising.

Yosef, Ariyansyah, one of the member groups still in Senior High School, really appreciates what he has learned. “This community is teaching me a good way to be a productive person, not just doing useless things,” says Yosef, proud of his group. “As a youth, what he earns from the farm is what we live from, and if we want some hobbies and enjoyment, we need to be innovative” and “If we work hard, we may be able to afford our own piece of farm one day. I declare myself to be a farmer, I have no regret for this, but we need to be smart.”

Indeed, there are other farmer groups who are now envious of the solid and active nature of this group and are approaching c&c field staff for assistance in training in new techniques and business. For c&c, this is the attitude we are looking for, and have now hired a full-time expert to work directly with youth groups and coordinate with government agencies and private businesses to bring new opportunities to the village youth.

As the biochar production continues, even the rice hullers are starting to ask a few cents for their waste. But this does not deter Rukim, Waris, and Yosef in any way. “There is so much waste we can turn into a useful product; we will never run out” they declare. Every day after leaving the biochar site, Rukim and others tie a bag of dark powder onto their motorcycles to bring to their farms. As the engines roar through the broken mufflers, they speed off into the distance, leaving a dusty, profitable, and fertile trail behind.

The post Climate Heroes: How Rukim Makes Biochar into a Climate-Smart Business appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

“The Coffee Sector Must Join Forces”: Missed Wake-Up Call Webinar Emphasizes Urgency to Act Against Climate Change

hrnsadmin — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 22:26:44 +0000

“Stop hitting snooze! The alarm clock is ringing!” – Climate change impacts coffee-growing regions more than expected. It requires immediate action. This is the clear message given by climate scientist Dr. Peter Baker and Stefan Ruge, Program Manager Climate at Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS). In our webinar “Missed Wake-Up Call”, they showed how climate change threatens the livelihoods of smallholder coffee farmers and drew scenarios of the near future.

There is no realistic chance of staying below 1.5°C anymore”, was the sobering statement by Dr. Peter Baker. Whereas the overall global temperature rise is now 1.1 to 1.2 °C, the global land temperatures are already at 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Baker outlines how the impacts of climate change lead coffee farmers to migrate or diversify out of the coffee business and also threaten their livelihoods through extreme weather events and socio-politic implications. Baker claims that by now, every country should ideally already have a comprehensive climate adaptation and disaster management team assembled, plans developed and under implementation. Only with immediate action, there is a chance to avoid catastrophic impacts on the sector as a whole. However, according to him, efforts of the coffee industry to support farmers so far are often piecemeal and of an inadequate scale:

Especially smallholder coffee farmers will have to deal with the increasing impacts of climate change. That’s why the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) emphasizes the importance of supporting them to adapt. “It is not about coffee alone, it is about the people and supporting them to become resilient to the changes. The solution is concerted action of the sector in a holistic approach”, emphasizes Stefan Ruge. He is Program Manager Climate at HRNS, which implements c&c.

“c&c follows exactly such a holistic approach: we innovate, disseminate and implement climate-smart tools and practices in coffee production, provides them to coffee farmers and supports these in diversifying their production. In doing so, we supports farming families in six regions worldwide to effectively respond to climate change and to safeguard their livelihoods. c&c’s strategy furthermore includes building up whole climate smart coffee regions and establishing carbon neutral and zero-deforestation coffee supply chains. “There is a lot of work to be done”, says Ruge. “That’s why we encourage coffee companies and development organizations to join c&c. We want to work together to build a climate-friendly coffee sector.”

Watch the webinar recording:

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The post “The Coffee Sector Must Join Forces”: Missed Wake-Up Call Webinar Emphasizes Urgency to Act Against Climate Change appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

Webinar “Missed Wake-Up Call: The Coffee Industry and the Impacts of Climate Change”

hrnsadmin — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 04:00:11 +0000

Join our webinar!

Stop hitting snooze! The alarm clock is ringing!

Join us on Wednesday, March 30, at 3:00 p.m. CEST for our webinar: “Missed Wake-Up Call: The Coffee Industry and the Impacts of Climate Change”.

The impacts of climate change on coffee production are here, and smallholder families around the world are feeling their increased effects. Although there have been several wake-up calls and ringing alarm clocks in the past, we still keep hitting snooze. We need to come together in the coffee sector and act fast and consistently; there is still time to react.

Climate scientist Dr. Peter Baker will give us an extensive review of the status quo and provide a close analysis of what to expect. Join us, as we dive deep into current and likely future impacts climate change will have on coffee-growing regions and farmer communities and explore what solutions are available.

Learn about the third phase of the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) and how it will continue to work as a partner to smallholder families and their communities, assess risk and vulnerability, identify and implement coping strategies, provide training and access to appropriate methods and know-how on climate-smart agricultural practices to ensure their resilience. As such, it also provides a platform to evaluate experiences in partnership and drive the agenda for effective climate action.

In the face of climate change, only straightforward action can secure the livelihood situation of millions of smallholder families and the business opportunities of the coffee industry.

Speakers

Contact us at info@coffeeandclimate.org in case of any questions. We hope you can join us!

The post Webinar “Missed Wake-Up Call: The Coffee Industry and the Impacts of Climate Change” appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

Closing The Gender Gap in Coffee Production

hrnsadmin — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 05:00:21 +0000

Climate change is putting a strain on coffee production and the greatest impact is faced by smallholder farming families who depend on the lucrative cash crop for their livelihoods. Frankly, it is women, more than men, who are at the center of the struggle. This is not only because women do up to 90% of the agricultural work on farms, but also because women are disadvantaged by patriarchal norms and traditions that give them less access to opportunities and decision-making power than men. These disadvantages increase women’s vulnerability to climate change while reducing their ability to manage the impacts of climate change.

gender disparities

In East Africa, women are generally responsible for running households and working on farms. This entails walking long distances to collect firewood and fetch water. This significantly increases women’s workload leaving them with little time to attend training about climate-smart agricultural practices. Women are also typically excluded from planning and decision-making within their households because of the patriarchal nature of the family structure. This ultimately weakens the economic progress of women and limits the development of their families.

Fetching water, caring for children, collecting firewood, and working on the farm are women’s daily tasks in East Africa

CLIMATE ACTION MUST INCLUDE THE PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY

These gender disparities make it clear that climate action must include the promotion of gender equality at the household and farmer organizational levels. Therefore, the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) is integrating gender into its climate action in East Africa. Through our implementing partner Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), we are conducting gender training sessions in Tanzania and Uganda.

The gender training encourages men to share domestic and farm labor with women to increase the implementation of climate-smart practices at household level. Additionally, men are encouraged to include women in decision-making about household expenditure to increase investments in time-saving technologies so that women can attend training in climate-smart practices.

At the same time, equipping leaders of farmer organizations with the knowledge, skills, and tools about how to combat the gender disparities that affect their work with farmers leads to more female members building their resilience to climate change and accessing leadership positions in farmer organizations. As leaders of farmer organizations, women can advocate for more women-friendly policies to grow female membership and thus, strengthen the production, climate resilience, and overall activities of the farmer organizations e.g. marketing, loan facilities, accessing genuine agricultural inputs etc.

TIME-SAVING TECHNOLOGIES

To enable women to attend climate adaptation training offered by HRNS, time-saving technologies are key. These include more efficient cooking stoves and domestic water harvesting tanks. The efficient cooking stoves save women time as the amount of firewood that they need to work is significantly less. This relatively cheap energy alternative to firewood is more beneficial because it decreases the rate of deforestation.

More efficient cooking stove

Domestic water harvesting tanks enable the storage of rainwater which saves women from having to walk long distances to fetch water daily. The time saved allows women more frequent participation in training on climate-smart practices. They can also follow their interests and diversify the household’s income which creates higher resistance of the farm to climatic impacts such as droughts or floods.

In Tanzania, a retired pastor, called Tukupasia Bugali and her husband are among many farmers who have accessed gender training from c&c. They were also given a water tank and a clean cooking stove through the project.

“The tank is extremely helpful to our household, and it makes irrigation easier. It has also enabled us to begin a coffee nursery of wilt-resistant coffee seedlings because irrigation is easier.” – Tukupasia Bugali

Pastor Tukupasia Bugali’s domestic water harvesting tank

In Uganda, solar dryers are amongst some of the time-saving technologies identified as suitable for smallholder farming households. Currently, women who are generally tasked with post-harvest responsibilities are drying coffee on the ground. This reduces the coffee quality as it mixes with dust and is susceptible to molding when it rains. Using solar dryers will save women time as they won’t have to repeatedly cover their drying coffee during unpredictable rains.

Ugandan woman removing stones from coffee that she is drying on the ground

Initial discussions have been held between the c&c Coordinator in Uganda, Victor Komakech, and the National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI) to identify the best and most affordable solar dryer designs for smallholder farming households.

“Once rolled out, solar dryers and raised drying racks will enable farmers to efficiently dry their coffee cherries, avoid molding during the sporadic rainy seasons and save time. Additionally, the solar driers can be used to dry other crops such as maize, cassava, and fruits for value addition and income diversification of the households.” – Victor Komakech

Solar dryers for coffee, maize and fruits

THE VALUE AND POTENTIAL OF WOMEN FOR CLIMATE ACTION

Although women are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than men, on the contrary, they also have the power to effect change. If given the chance to attend training on climate-smart practices, women generally take up climate-smart farming practices better than their male counterparts. Additionally, when women are included in household decision-making, they can improve household expenditure increasing the likelihood of investments in time-saving technologies and climate-smart tools and technologies. If included in the leadership of farmer organizations, women can also positively influence and affect policies so that more women become members and participate in activities and training on climate-smart practices. For these reasons, c&c will continue to integrate gender into its climate change interventions in East Africa.

The post Closing The Gender Gap in Coffee Production appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.

Climate Heroes: Glenda Fuentes

hrnsadmin — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 05:00:21 +0000

At the age of 7, Glenda Fuentes remembers waking up to the sound of the rooster, stepping out of bed, and neither of her parents being home. She is one of many women in coffee production. They had already left the house at quarter past 5 to pick coffee in the highlands of Ocotepeque, Honduras. After years of hard work and time spent saving money, Glenda’s parents were finally able to buy a piece of land to grow their coffee, which they eventually gave to Glenda to take care of.

Glenda wakes up at 5:00 am every day. Before she starts getting her two young daughters ready for school, she cleans the house, brooms her cement floors, and starts cooking the meals for the day. Not a day goes by without Glenda brewing a fresh pot of her family’s Pacamara coffee. During that time, her husband, Juan Ángel Fuentes, is already showered, and is having a quick breakfast with Mariela and Yanira before taking them to school and heading to the farm.

In 2018, Glenda, who was 25 years old at the time, noticed a drastic change in the appearance of her coffee leaves. Together with her husband, Juan Ángel, they detected yellow stains and dark orange spots all around. What appeared to be one of the many diseases they had previously encountered, resulted in much worse. Known as the coffee leaf rust, this highly unknown fungus in the community caused foliage to wither until all their coffee trees resembled a skeleton. That same year, Glenda and Juan Ángel wiped their entire farm clean and started to re-plant coffee trees from zero.

“Apart from the coffee leaf rust, extreme weather events and high production costs were slaughtering our farm”, Glenda recalls with deep sorrow and despair. “Even though I had limited time because of my studies and knew that women were much less involved in the coffee sector than men, I desperately needed to find professional support and get much more involved to support my husband and make our farm strive.”

Her upward journey as one of the many women in coffee production began on a bright Thursday morning, during the summer of July 2018, when Glenda jumps on her motorbike, and makes her way through the dusty, unpaved curved roads of Santa Marta, to reach the farmer organization (FO) COCANUPOL. She was approached by the FO’s president, who encouraged her to become a member, join the women’s committee and immediately involve her in climate change adaptation activities, both part of initiative for coffee&climate (c&c). c&c, implemented by Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), is a pre-competitive partnership of leading coffee companies supporting smallholder farming families to become resilient to climate change.

“I’ve been fortunate to participate in different climate adaptation trainings which have helped tremendously”, Glenda expresses. “Aside from implementing different adaptation practices, I’ve learned about farm diversification, participated in workshops promoting the safe use and handling of agrochemicals and learned how to use different measurement tools and technologies in the farm”. c&c has guided Glenda into incorporating several climate-smart agricultural practices into her coffee farm including temporary shade, cover crops, gypsum and crop distancing. In addition, she’s implemented c&c’s 5X1 diversification system which has allowed her to diversify her agricultural production system. 5 rows of coffee are being grown for every row of avocado. “My husband and I have seen significant improvement in our farm over the years. Our yields and productivity have increased, and we’ve been able to strengthen the resilience of our farm so that when new pests and diseases come, our plants are strong, and will not go weak as they did back in 2018”.

To date, Glenda actively works as a full time Field Technician for her cooperative. Now many women in coffee production are also involved in her cooperative. Her working day usually finishes at 4 pm, although it depends on the time of year. Before heading home, Glenda stops by to support her husband with their coffee farm. She supervises the climate-smart agricultural practices being implemented and evaluates the performance of their coffee plants and avocado trees. During harvest season, Glenda supports with the processing of her family’s specialty coffee. She makes sure the ripe coffee cherries meet the fermentation process she establishes and are dried correctly. Her family’s coffee is currently being processed and commercialized as specialty coffee through the FO.

The knowledge she’s acquired through c&c have allowed her husband and her to transform their farm and be an example of innovative climate adaptation in their community. Together with some of her neighboors, Glenda is also involved in the growing of a group orchard to sell different vegetables in her community. “I strongly believe in the innovative techniques and knowledge c&c provides to smallholders. My hope is to continue being part of c&c so I can continue to learn and become even more resilient to climate change”.

The post Climate Heroes: Glenda Fuentes appeared first on initiative for coffee&climate.