We all love a cup of coffee in the morning, well at least most of us do. Even morning tea is just about perfect for the majority of us too. What would we do if that cup of java became prohibitively expensive, (isn’t it already?), or unavailable due to worldwide climate change? We’ll that seems to be happening in Kenya right now.
Climate change has affected Kenyan coffee production through unpredictable rainfall patterns and excessive droughts, making crop management and disease control a nightmare. Intermittent rainfall has caused terrible bout of the coffee Berry Disease that has cut Kenyan output by 23 percent. The intermittent rainfall patterns have also contributed t extended drought periods and high temperatures. Coffee operates within a very narrow temperature range of 19-25 degrees (Celsius). When you start getting temperatures above that, it affects photosynthesis and in some cases, trees wilt and dry up. For coffee to flower, for example, it needs a couple of months of dry weather followed by showers. This year, Kenya had rains in January, normally a very dry month when the bushes undergo what is known as stress before they flower. Because of the unpredictable weather, bushes are flowering when they should not and have coffee berries at different stages of maturity. This means farmers have to hire labor through most of the year to pick very few kilos of coffee. Costs have risen tremendously in the harvesting of the Kenyan coffee beans. Coffee trees cannot determine the season because each tree has beans of different ages due to climate fluctuations. This becomes an issue in disease management and insect management for farmers. All of which have reduced harvests and raised costs. If you thought that $4 latte was expensive, what will you think of climate change when that cup of java hits $10?
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