Abstract
The suitability and profitability of coffee cultivation in Central America are at risk due to pest and disease outbreaks, price fluctuations and climate change. Proper shading is claimed to be one of the most promising practices to seek sustainability and better adapt coffee cultivation to climate change in marginal areas. This study recorded and compared coffee cherry yields over a ten-year period from shaded coffee (N-fixing-trees and timber trees) agroforestry systems under different management regimes (conventional vs. organic) in a suboptimal site. Significant differences in production were detected between conventional inputs vs. combination of organic inputs and shade types in some years of the evaluation period. Full-sun cultivation under intensive management was the most productive system for coffee yields, followed by shaded systems under timber trees. Interestingly, and regardless of management systems (intensive conventional or intensive organic) the worst combinations in terms of coffee yield were shaded systems under leguminous species (Inga laurina (Sw.) Willd. + Simarouba glauca DC.). Across all experimental plots, the timber species Simarouba glauca and Tabebuia rosea (Bertol.) DC. grew well, reaching a mean annual increment in diameter of 2.5-3.3 cm/year (age 12 years). Average gross revenues were higher in full-sun and timber-shaded agroforestry systems. Overall, intensive management regimes were the most expensive cultivation system to run but also the best in terms of coffee yield performance.
Highlights
Climate change will negatively impact both the yield and quality of arabica coffee production in most of the growing regions world-wide (Vaast et al, 2005; Ovalle-Rivera et al, 2015)
In this study, intensive organic production was found to be productive as conventional production regime
Intensive full sun-conventional coffee systems had the highest productivity, followed by the combination of timber Samanea saman + Tabebuia rosea organic intensive, which showed the positive effect of shade typology and intensive organic inputs on coffee yields
Summary
Climate change will negatively impact both the yield and quality of arabica coffee production in most of the growing regions world-wide (Vaast et al, 2005; Ovalle-Rivera et al, 2015). In Nicaragua, it is projected that the climate will become hotter, dryer and with remarkable seasonality especially at lower altitudes which in turn will move upward the altitudinal range of suitable land to grow coffee (Laderach et al, 2011). This scenario becomes worse for lowland areas (400-500 m above sea level -asl- in the Pacific region) where coffee is still grown (Padovan et al, 2015). The biggest losses in shade tree adaptability will be experienced in mid-altitudinal coffee-growing areas (400-700 m), especially by the most popular N-fixing, fruit, and timber shade trees. Climate change is already having significant adverse impacts on smallholder coffee and basic grain farmers across Central American, yet mitigation and adaptation measures are gradually taking place (Baca et al, 2014; Harvey et al, 2017)
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