Women smallholders face greater constraints than men in accessing capital and commodity markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Collective action has been promoted to remedy those disadvantages. Using survey data of 421 women members and 210 nonmembers of a coffee producer cooperative in Western Uganda, this study investigates the determinants of women’s participation in cooperatives and women’s intensity of participation. The results highlight the importance of access to and control over land for women to join the cooperative in the first place. Participation intensity is measured through women’s participation in collective coffee marketing and share capital contributions. It is found that duration of membership, access to extension services, more equal intrahousehold power relations, and joint land ownership positively influence women’s ability to commit to collective action. These findings demonstrate the embeddedness of collective action in gender relations and the positive value of women’s active participation for agricultural-marketing cooperatives.

Conversatorio con Julia Ortega, una productora de México comparte los retos a los que se ha enfrentado durante varios años para obtener la certificación en su finca y cómo ha logrado mantener su café bajo una producción orgánica.
En este episodio se habla de:
Qué es y de dónde viene el término café carbono neutral
Estrategias de compensación que involucran a los productores
Prácticas agrícolas para reducir emisiones en el cultivo de café
¿Es rentable tener una certificación o sello verde?
Perspectiva del otro lado de la cadena frente al sello carbono neutral

Ante la crisis de producción agrícola en Venezuela, especialmente en el rubro del café, los caficultores, emprendedores, inversionistas y entes gubernamentales han fijado su atención en el café de especialidad, un producto con altos estándares de calidad y cotizado en el mercado por precios superiores al café commodity o comercial. Este nuevo nicho ha permitido la creación de marcas, cafeterías y espacios especializados en el área que han impactado en el desarrollo económico de quienes conforman su cadena de valor; asimismo, ha promovido el interés de los consumidores en conocer los orígenes y características del grano, dándole mayor relevancia a los caficultores.

Preface:
This case study is sponsored by Food Enterprise Solutions (FES). FES is a US-based agribusiness solutions provider, serving growing food companies in emerging economies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Artisan Coffee Imports, LLC, (Artisan) is a small, woman-owned, US-based company, that imports green coffee, primarily from women coffee producers. The case study aims to share aspects of the work by Artisan Coffee Imports that exemplify the values and sustainable approaches supported by FES.

Purpose:

Climate change has widespread effects on coffee production, impacting the entire value chain, from producers to consumers. Effective solutions necessitate not only a renewed environmental focus, but also the close consideration of economic and social factors. It is now more important than ever for the industry to come together to discuss these solutions and factors, and share their collective knowledge and expertise for the benefit of all, but particularly in support of the most vulnerable: the small-scale agricultural producers who constitute the majority of coffee growers worldwide.

In 2016, the SCA identified carbon footprint measurement and reporting as one of five key recommendations to address climate change in a white paper, Climate Change and Coffee: Acting Globally and Locally. As time—and the climate crisis—has progressed, the SCA continued to note that gaps in our collective knowledge around carbon emissions reporting and reduction remained a significant challenge to companies seeking to engage in this kind of activity.

This report aims to highlight some of the key tools, strategies, and best practices that coffee industry actors could adopt to achieve carbon emission reduction as well as encourage more targeted conversation about verifiable methods and outcomes, in order to increase proven and positive action on climate change throughout the entire coffee sector

El progreso del país y bienestar de los pueblos depende de la productividad, como indicador de eficiencia en el uso de los recursos naturales, capital y talento humano. El Ecuador atraviesa una profunda crisis en la producción de café: 640 000 sacos de producto al año y 2 200 000 sacos de demanda, por tanto, 1 560 000 sacos de déficit, principalmente de café robusta. En este escenario, once universidades han conformado la Red Universitaria de Investigación y Desarrollo Cafetalero (REDUCAFÉ), se avanzan acuerdos de cooperación de las universidades con la Asociación Nacional de Exportadores de Café (ANECAFÉ) y dos empresas líderes: Solubles Instantáneos C.A. y Dublinsa S.A. y se gestionan acuerdos colaborativos entre empresas, gremios, universidades e Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP) para juntos construir una caficultura sostenible. La universidad propone implementar un modelo de gestión del conocimiento e innovación organizacional basado en la alianza “Gobierno + Empresa + Academia + Productores” (GEAP), en la perspectiva de aprovechar el valor presente y futuro de los activos del conocimiento de la cadena cafetalera y así contribuir a una mayor eficiencia en la producción, transformación y comercialización del café robusta, mejorar las condiciones de vida de los cafetaleros e impulsar el crecimiento económico y cambio de la matriz productiva del Ecuador.

Information sharing lies at the core of most governance interventions within agro-food commodity supply-chains, such as certification standards or direct trade relationships. However, actors have little information available to guide sustainable consumption decisions beyond simple labels. Blockchain technology can potentially alleviate the numerous sustainability problems related to agro-food commodity supply-chains by fostering traceability and transparency. Despite significant research on blockchain, there is limited understanding of the concrete barriers and benefits and potential applications of blockchain in real-world settings. Here, we present a case study of blockchain implementation in a coffee supply-chain. Our aim is to assess the potential of blockchain technology to promote sustainability in coffee supply chains through increased traceability and transparency and to identify barriers and opportunities for this. While our pilot implementation clearly illustrates certain benefits of blockchain, it also suggests that blockchain is no silver bullet for delivering agro-food supply chain sustainability. Knowledge on provenance and transparency of information on quality and sustainability can help trigger transformation of consumer behaviour, but the actual value lies in digitising the supply chain to increase efficiency and reduce costs, disputes, and fraud, while providing more insight end-to-end through product provenance and chain-of-custody information. We identify a need to understand and minimize supply chain barriers before we can reap the full benefits of digitalization and decentralization provided by blockchain technology.

Coffee is an essential player in Kenya’s agricultural industry, yet it has suffered a steady decline in production in the past 40 years. The sector can confront these challenges by incorporating Sustainable Consumption and Production Practices (SCPs) across the coffee value chain, which could both revitalize the industry and mitigate its contribution to climate change.

This policy brief explores the potential integration of SCPs and their benefits across the coffee production chain.

The Indonesian state forest managers have accepted farmer-managed coffee agroforestry in their estates as part of their social forestry program. Access by local farming communities to state-owned plantation forestry supports public motivation to maintain forest cover. However, balancing the expectations and needs of forest managers with those of the local farming communities is not easy. Coffee yields in Indonesia are lower than those of neighboring countries, suggesting that there is scope for improvement. Here we describe an experimental research platform developed through an international collaboration between the Universitas Brawijaya (UB), the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH), and smallholder coffee farmers to explore options for improving pine-coffee agroforestry systems within existing regulations. Located in a former state-owned pine production forest on the slopes of the stratovolcano, Mount Arjuna, in the Malang Regency of East Java, the research platform has seven instrumented research plots (40 × 60 m2), where agronomic practices can be trialed. The aim of the platform is to support the development of sustainable agronomic practices to improve the profitability of coffee agroforestry and thus the livelihood of low-income rural communities. Current trials are focused on improving coffee yields and include pine canopy trimming, fertilizers, and coffee pruning trials, with links to the development of socio-economic and environmental models. Whilst it is too early to assess the full impacts on yields, a survey of farmers demonstrated a positive attitude to canopy pruning, although with some concern over labor cost. The initial ecosystem modelling has highlighted the benefits of coffee agroforestry in balancing environmental and economic benefits. Here we provide a detailed description of the site, the current trials, and the modelling work, with the hope of highlighting opportunities for future collaboration and innovation.

High-altitude coffee has an international reputation due to its high quality, especially in countries with a long production history, such as Costa Rica. Specific geographical characteristics determine the regions where high-altitude coffee can be cultivated. Over the last two decades, new production conditions have promoted the growth of smallholder coffee farms in the Upper Buenavista Catchment (UBC) in the South of Costa Rica. To understand this phenomenon’s process, we initially performed a detailed geomorphological mapping of the high-elevation production sites in the UBC. Then, we used remote sensing to determine the coffee land cover (2005, 2012, and 2018) to compare their landforms. Furthermore, we analyzed the production–processing–market chain that has promoted coffee plantations since 2005. Our results show that coffee farmers chose more unstable and erosive areas with short-term production prospects to cultivate premium-priced coffee. Moreover, farmers have changed their role in the coffee sector, evolving from small producers to entrepreneurs with specialized knowledge. These actions may reduce economic risks and improve the household incomes of smallholder coffee producers. However, limited research has been conducted along the tropics about the relationships between landforms, socioeconomic drivers, and high-altitude coffee yield. Therefore, our results are essential to present geomorphology and applied geography as baselines in land-use planning for agricultural landscapes.

Biodiesel and its blends with diesel are used in engines to overcome the problems of environmental pollution and fast depletion of conventional fuels. The purpose of this research is to extract oil from coffee husk, convert it into coffee husk oil methyl ester (CHOME) by transesterification, and test the suitability of this biodiesel as an alternate, renewable, sustainable fuel for a diesel engine. The physicochemical characteristics of the developed biodiesel are studied and compared with regular diesel. The results showed that the fundamental properties of the produced fuel are comparable to that of diesel. The performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with CHOME biodiesel are investigated. The experiments are conducted in a single-cylinder direct injection diesel engine at a constant speed by varying the loads (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%) for different biodiesel-diesel blends (B10, B20, B30, B40, B50, and B80), and the results are compared with the baseline diesel. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of the blends, B10, B20, B30, and B50 dropped by 0.6, 0.7, 1.29, and 3%, respectively compared with the neat diesel. Similarly the brake specific energy consumption (BSEC) is reduced by 0.1, 0.3, 0.44, and 0.77% for B10, B20, B30, and B50, respectively. Exhaust gas emissions are reduced for all biodiesel-diesel blends. Compared to regular diesel, at full load, CO, HC, and smoke opacity of B30 reduced by 13.2%, 4%, and 12%, respectively. CO2 of B30 at full load is increased by 8.63%. In general, it can be stated that CHOME biodiesel is a promising alternate biodiesel that can be used in an internal combustion engine without major modifications.

Relationship coffee models are generally characterized by a shortened value chain and efforts to achieve social, economic, and environmental sustainability. In three case studies with farmers organized in cooperatives in Peru and buyers in Austria or Germany, we analyzed the proximity among the geographically distant value chain actors. This paper aims to provide a more nuanced perspective on relational (organizational, institutional, cognitive, and social) proximity in relationship coffee models. The comparative analysis of the proximities in our case studies revealed that initial face-to-face contacts are required to build further proximity dimensions. Proximate relationship coffee models have led to more recognition, pride, a good reputation of the actors, higher coffee quality and thus farm-gate prices, and stable long-term relationships. However, relationship coffees require more coordination and communication among chain actors and advanced farmer skills and efforts to produce high-quality coffee. In relationship coffee models, farmers still depend on buyers and roasters to benefit from higher quality of their green coffee.

About 70% of the harvested coffee is exported to the industrialized nations for value addition due to lack of processing and logistic facilities in developing coffee producer countries, thus leaving behind a marginal economic return for the growers. This research was conducted to investigate the roasting capacity of an innovatively developed batch-type directly solar radiated roasting system for the decentralized processing of coffee using solar energy. Central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was employed to design the experiments to optimize the coffee roasting process. Experimental results revealed that with an average solar direct normal irradiance (DNI) of 800 W/m2, the roaster was capable of roasting a batch of 2 kg coffee beans in 20, 23, and 25 min subjected to light roasts, medium roasts, and dark roasts, respectively at a drum speed of two revolutions per minute (rpm). The batch-type solar roaster has the capacity to roast 28.8–36 kg of coffee beans depending on dark to light roasting conditions on a clear sunny day with DNI ranging from 650 to 850 W/m2. The system thermal efficiency during coffee roasting was determined to be 62.2%, whereas the roasting efficiency at a corresponding light roast, medium roast, and dark roast was found to be 97.5%, 95.2%, and 91.3%, respectively. The payback period of the solar roaster unit was estimated to be 1038 working sunshine hours, making it viable for commercialization.

Hawaii has long been one of the last coffee-producing regions of the world free of coffee leaf rust (CLR) disease, which is caused by the biotrophic fungus Hemileia vastatrix. However, CLR was detected in coffee farms and feral coffee on the island of Maui in February 2020 and subsequently on other islands of the Hawaiian archipelago. The source of the outbreak in Hawaii is not known, and CLR could have entered Hawaii from more than 50 coffee-producing nations that harbor the pathogen. To determine the source(s) of the Hawaii inoculum, we analyzed a set of eleven simple sequence repeat markers (SSRs) generated from Hawaii isolates within a dataset of 434 CLR isolates collected from 17 countries spanning both old and new world populations, and then conducted a minimum spanning network (MSN) analysis to trace the most likely pathway that H. vastatrix could have taken to Hawaii. Forty-two multilocus genotypes (MLGs) of H. vastatrix were found in the global dataset, with all isolates from Hawaii assignable to MLG 10 or derived from it. MLG 10 is widespread in Central America and Jamaica, making this region the most probable source of inoculum for the outbreak in Hawaii. An examination of global weather patterns during the months preceding the introduction of CLR makes it unlikely that the pathogen was windborne to the islands. Likely scenarios for the introduction of CLR to Hawaii are the accidental introduction of spores or infected plant material by travelers or seasonal workers, or improperly fumigated coffee shipments originating from Central America or the Caribbean islands.

Climate change causes an adverse impact on the coffee plantation as it directly influences the productivity and quality of coffee products. For the adaptation strategy, using superior variety is often considered an important step because it has potential attributes such as high yield and quality, and is more tolerant to certain environmental shocks. This study aims to analyze the environmental adaptability and financial feasibility of local Robusta coffee varieties. This study used data from field observations, surveys, and interviews of key informants in Ogan Komering Ulu Regency, South Sumatera, Indonesia from 2018-2021. Data were analyzed descriptively. Results showed that three local clones have high adaptability in the study site, even in a high precipitation rate. The varieties are financially feasible to be adopted by farmers, even though on a small scale. Sensitivity analysis with the scenario of decreasing the yield or increasing operational cost as the impact of climate variability about 10 percent showed the lower feasibility indicators (NPV, IRR, and Net B/C), but still higher than the minimum threshold so that still feasible and profitable for farmers. Hence, the three local clones are the potential to be developed for sustainable Robusta coffee plantations.