Global warming takes its toll on coffee production

Climate change is leading to changes in temperature and rainfall patterns and this has significantly affected coffee production in central Kenya. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • This year, changes in weather patterns have caused a delay in the flowering of coffee bushes by three months.

  • According to experts, global warming is also threatening to alter the cycle of the cash crop.

The production of coffee has changed in central Kenya due to erratic weather patterns caused by climate change.

This year, changes in weather patterns have caused a delay in the flowering of coffee bushes by three months.

According to experts, global warming is also threatening to alter the cycle of the cash crop.

Traditionally, the fly crop, also known as the early crop, is usually harvested between May and July while the main crop is harvested between November and early January.

But this is set to change. “The timeline for coffee production has shifted and we might harvest the early crop again in June or July,” said Chrysagon Wang’ondu, a coffee farmer.

According to Paul Nduhiu, another coffee farmer, climate change is gradually affecting coffee-growing zones and he fears the impact will force farmers to switch to horticulture and subsistence farming.

Coffee experts say there will be an increase in production during the early crop harvest, leading to a reduced harvest in December. This is bound to affect coffee prices, they added. 

“Coffee buyers are not in favour of the early crop, [and] thus we expect reduced prices for our bulk produce,” said Joseph Njau, a coffee expert in Nyeri who also manages a coffee farm in the county.

Grenville Miili, the interim director of the Agriculture and Food Authority's Coffee Directorate, says something can be done to increase yields during the two harvesting seasons.

“The weather has changed in that it is raining at the wrong time; farmers need to apply the fertilizers at the right time,” said Mr Miili.