Chapter 3. The carbon footprint of coffee production chains in Tolima, Colombia

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the most important sectors influencing climate change because it can act as net source of greenhouse gases (GHG) or it is able to mitigate global warming. Production systems with woody perennial species, such as coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plantations, have shown to mitigate global warming because of their ability to sequester carbon (C) in biomass and soil. In this study, the C footprint of coffee production systems in Líbano, Colombia was assessed by evaluating coffee plantations in monoculture, in agroforestry systems (AFS) with Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pavón) Oken, and in AFS with plantain (Musa sp. var AAB). Carbon sequestration varied between 2.7 and 19.9 tCO2/ha/y for monoculture and AFS with C. alliodora, respectively. All coffee production systems emitted GHG at a rate of 1.4 to 3.5 Mg CO2e/ha/y; whereas coffee bean processing emitted 7.1 kg CO2e/kg. Only the agroforestry system with C. alliodora had a positive C footprint, showing a net sequestration of 14.2 Mg CO2e/ha/y in comparison to the AFS with plantain (-2.9 Mg CO2e/ha/y) and the coffee monoculture (-5.7 Mg CO2e/ha/y). The inclusion of timber trees, such as C. alliodora, in coffee production systems can change a coffee plantation from a C emitter to one of C sequestration. Results from our study suggested that AFS coffee production systems play an important role in mitigating global warming. This provides an incentive not only for coffee producers, but also for the development of policies to adapt AFS for coffee production because they can play an important ecological service in tropical biomes.