May 3, 2013
KAMPALA, 3 May 2013 (IRIN) - In
Uganda, a new pilot project seeks to understand the threat climate change poses
to coffee, which will enable growers to enhance the crop's resilience to extreme
weather events.
Coffee contributes about US$400
million of Uganda's total annual export revenue, directly or indirectly
employing at least two million people. But coffee production, like other export
crops in Uganda, is mainly rain-fed, making it vulnerable to climate
variability.
"The economy of Uganda remains
largely dependent on a few agro-commodities (coffee, tea, cotton),
predominantly rain-fed and grown by smallholders with limited external inputs,
making the country highly sensitive to climate risks," Julie Karami
Dekens, the International Institute for Sustainable Development's (IISD)
project manager for climate change and energy, told IRIN via email.
The six-month pilot project, which
was launched on 5 April, is a collaboration between Uganda's Ministry of Trade,
Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC), the local Makerere University and IISD.
The programme will explore climate
vulnerabilities across the coffee value chain - the movement of coffee from
farming to processing to marketing - with a view to expanding these assessments
to other agricultural value chains. It reflects growing recognition that
climate change will have far-reaching effects across the agricultural,
administrative and economic sectors.
"Climate change is a multi-sector challenge,
which calls for concerted efforts of not only the environment sector, but also
the trade sector," Norman Ojamuge, MTIC senior commercial officer, told
IRIN.
Value chain development
According to a recent government
briefing on the project, value chain development is crucial to the growth of
agricultural commodities. But limited work has been done to understand the
impact of climate risks along the levels of value chains. The project hopes to
help bridge this gap.
A separate 2013 study,
Climate Risk Management for Sustainable Crop Production in Uganda, noted:
"There is a need to understand how climate risks are distributed and
transmitted (or not) among all the stakeholders of value chains (not just at
production level) to identify solutions that benefit all actors along the value
chain and opportunities for investments."
Incorporating climate change into
agriculture will mean that "there will be a coherent and thorough integration
of climate change adaptation and the associated disaster risk management
agendas and structures. into sectoral and national strategies," said Betty
Namwagala, the executive director of the Uganda Coffee Federation.
Climate risks
Climate risks facing coffee
production in Uganda include the increased prevalence of pests and diseases.
For example, coffee
leaf rust has been reported in many arabica coffee growing areas, with the
black twig borer pest emerging as a threat in robusta coffee growing areas.
There has also been a fluctuation in
coffee production in Uganda over the past 40 years, a situation attributable to
climate variability, reduced soil fertility and mismanagement, according to
Uganda's Coffee Development Authority (UCDA).
Droughts and floods are also
challenges.
"Water stress in the dry season
affects the physiological activity of the arabica plant, causing a reduction in
photosynthesis," explained Namwagala.
"Some farmers have lost their
plantations and lives to landslides that are attributed to climate change.
Areas that depend on rain-fed agriculture may sometimes require irrigation, and
taking into consideration the nature of our producers, many have abandoned
their farms since they cannot afford irrigation or access to sources of water
that can support irrigation," she added.
"If climatic events, such as
exceedingly high temperatures, occur during sensitive periods of the life of
the crop, for example during flowering or fruit setting, then yields will be
adversely affected, and particularly if accompanied by reduced rainfall,
thereby reducing incomes of all sector players," she said.
David Mafabi, a coffee farmer in the
eastern Uganda district of Mbale, said: "Coffee production depends on
nature. We suffer if there is too much [rain] or drought. As a result of
drought, coffee does not mature well, and the harvest will be
disappointing."
Climate change can affect links
further up the value chain, as well.
"More frequent or intense
extreme weather events may deteriorate infrastructure such as storage
facilities and roads, leading to reductions in crop quality and limited access
to markets," said IISD's Dekens.
Development planning
The management of these climate
risks is key to development planning.
Uganda's development strategy relies
heavily on exports - including coffee - to achieve the country's 'Vision 2040'
national development plan that aims to transform the nation from a low-income
country to a competitive upper-middle-income country with a per capita income
of about $9,500.
At present, some of strategies being
used to minimize the negative impacts of climate hazards on coffee production
include the breeding and selection of more disease-resistant and
drought-tolerant varieties. Through the UCDA, coffee farming is also being
introduced into new areas, especially in northern Uganda, to boost production
and to test potential growing locations.
Coffee farmers are also adopting
best practices such as crop diversification, intercropping and agroforestry.
Still, further support in managing climate risk is still needed.
According to IISD's Dekens,
"Further studies are required assess the economic impacts of climate
hazard[s] on coffee production. It is difficult to differentiate the costs
associated with the impacts of climate risk on coffee production from that of
other factors, such as reduced soil fertility and mismanagement, which also
contribute to reduce coffee production in Uganda."