Introduction
Costa Rica is a small country in Central America but it has a very big sense of responsibility. That’s why it wants to do its part to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The country’s many measures to mitigate climate change include the use of climate-smart methods to cultivate and process coffee. Farmers are, for example, getting to know to reuse the organic waste produced during coffee processing and fertilize crops in a more efficient way. Coffee is amongst Costa Rica’s key exports, however coffee production additionally has a terrible impact on the country’s environmental performance: the cultivation and processing of beans make the coffee production the second largest supply of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. A small group of entrepreneurial farmers in Coto Brus are working hard to find new solutions to safeguard their future — and they’re transforming what it means to be a coffee farmer in this new era.
Sustainable Coffee Farming
Improving the profitability of their farms isn’t the only driver. Farmers in the district frequently talk about social and environmental reasons for sustainable practices. Sustainable farming methods are currently used by over 7,000 coffee producers covering around 25,000 hectares of land – which corresponds to one third of all land used for coffee cultivation in Costa Rica. This has cut carbon dioxide emissions by a total of almost 60,000 tones.
Collective Power
Brought together by their common enthusiasm for finding new solutions to the threats facing coffee farming, a group of 10 farmers formed an association a few years ago. They are forming novel alliances with authorities and private companies. Among their accomplishments are a public-private project to construct a coffee processing plant, access to wholesale prices for farm inputs, a certification program for farms with desirable social and environmental practices, and mutually beneficial corporate partnerships.
Modernizing and Commercializing
The farmers’ partnership with the coffee exporting agency Cafinter has helped them introduce drip irrigation to save water and to try out new varieties with greater climate resilience. Their new processing plant, the first of its kind, is a perfect embodiment of the alterations happening in Coto Brus. The plant lets every farmer to process his or her coffee separately, ship samples to exporters, and negotiate directly with buyers. This helps in eliminating middlemen, and also allows farmers to get higher prices based on the quality of their coffee and on their individual sustainable practices. This added income security helps increase farmers’ resilience to climate change impacts.
Requires Everyone’s Participation
From finance establishments to coffee researchers, and from NGOs to agronomists and authorities planners, the aid available is an enormous asset for farmers. The National Coffee Institute (ICAFE) provides low-cost coffee seedlings, early caution indicators for pests and disease, and tests new coffee varieties in the field. The Ministry of Agriculture provides various trainings and technical assistance to farmers. One of the country’s Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) is to aid the cultivation of climate-friendly coffee. The project aims to permit farmers and processing companies to sustainably produce and process low-carbon coffee. It additionally helps efforts to marketplace the world’s first low-carbon coffee as a revolutionary product worldwide.
Also reduce costs
Farmers are gaining knowledge about sustainable farming strategies that reduce emissions. They’re learning how to use chemical fertilizers extra effectively and ways to use organic waste in production processes. The discarded remains of the coffee fruit can also be used as a fertilizer to provide additional important nutrients to the plants. These methods are helping farmers to not only reduce emissions but also cut costs.
Costa Rica’s climate-friendly coffee is also attracting interest from different countries: Peru and Honduras, for example, are presently working on their own measures for climate-neutral coffee.
Conclusion
Almost all of us starts our day with a cup of coffee. We never think about the impact our single cup of coffee makes on the climate. Rising temperatures will bring drought, increase the range of diseases and kill large swaths of insects that pollinate coffee plants. Researchers say that in future such challenges will be constant. We have a long way to go to protect our nature and Costa Rica is a very beautiful start to this journey.