Kozhikode:
Can the way coffee is grown offer a cure to the adverse effects of climate change? Conservation and agriculture experts in Wayanad are in the affirmative and have mooted revitalization of historic ‘shade grown coffee plantation’ system in Wayanad as the best defence against the adverse effects of climate change acutely being felt in the hill district. Wayanad is one of the four climate change hotspots in the state and listed as highly vulnerable to vagaries of weather.
The district, which is the largest coffee producer in the state – with 85,359 hectares of land under coffee and producing over 80% of the state’s coffee output- has over the years shifted from ‘shade coffee’ to intensive ‘sun coffee’ system.
“For centuries coffee used to be grown in an agro-forest eco system with coffee plants grown under a thick green canopy provided by tall shade trees,” said, director of the biodiversity programme of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) N Anil Kumar. “But during the recent years the farmers have massively cleared trees from coffee plantations and started growing the crop in full sunlight with high input of agro-chemicals for getting maximum crop productivity. This has contributed to the marked changes in the unique micro- climate of the district,” he said.
It has also caused adverse environmental impact and exposed the farmers to effects of unprecedented climate change, currently witnessed in the district in the form of weakening in the early phase of the south-west monsoon precipitation, increasing polarization of daily rainfall, rising minimum temperature and increasing pest attacks.
An approach paper prepared by MSSRF said that the revival of shade grown coffee plantations would also help regulate micro climates and induce conditions favourable to the development of wildlife diversity with provisioning of healthy ecosystem services. It would also help in increasing carbon removal and promoting sustainable coffee farming. Experts say that shade grown coffee would provide enhanced income generation for farmers as it commands a premium in global markets.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kozhikode / TNN / April 13th, 2016
