Kenya’s celebrated coffee under threat as farmers hit by climate transformation

Kate Stanworth Simon Macharia, one of the Kenyan coffee farmers stands a coffee processing plant in Komothai, Kenya

In the lush, volcanic highlands of Komothai in Kenya’s Rift Valley, farmers like Simon Macharia produce coffee on tiny plantations scattered across the hillsides.

Along with other farmers, Mr Macharia brings sacks of his luminous red coffee cherries to the local processing plant, where they are weighed and treated.

A machine removes the red husks, and the pale beans inside are washed and passed along concrete channels, ending up on lines of drying platforms that sweep across the valley.

Here, workers categorise the beans into grades, the highest destined for the coffee houses of Europe.

“We call coffee the black gold around here,” Mr Macharia, whose farm covers 2.5 hectares (six acres) , told the BBC.

He grows the Kenya AA coffee beans, which are prized worldwide for their high standard, packed body, deep aromas and fruity flavour.

Once harvested the beans require to be taken from the berries and then dried

Kate Stanworth A person hold bright red coffee beans in their hands — Once harvested the beans require to be taken from the berries and then dried

The crop has been part of these lush highlands since the late 1890s, when British colonial settlers introduced it.

Now, the area is famous for its distinctive, top-rated coffee.

Growing the berries is labour intensive – picking, pruning, weeding, spraying, fertilising and transporting the products.

“Coffee requires your packed-period concentration, especially when it starts to bloom,” Mr Macharia said.

“From that instant up until the day that you are going to harvest – those six months, your packed-period job is on the farm.”

A coffee tree is a huge capital apportionment for liquid assets-strapped farmers, as it can receive four years for the fruits to mature.

The worth of a single cup of coffee in a chic European café, typically $4 (£3.20), highlights a stark disparity when compared to the returns of many Kenyan coffee labourers, who make at most $2.30 a day.

Edita Mwangi, who harvests coffee cherries on the red earth hillside overlooking the processing plant, confirms this.

“They don’t recognize the poverty we suffer. You have to battle day and night just to survive,” she said.

With four children depending on her, Ms Mwangi works six days a week, earning about $1.40 a day.

She has to walk 5km (three miles) to reach the farm where she works.

The daily wage of most Kenyan coffee workers is less than the worth of a cup of coffee in Europe

Kate Stanworth A woman picks coffee berries on a small farm in Komothai, Kenya. — The daily wage of most Kenyan coffee workers is less than the worth of a cup of coffee in Europe

Farmers feel the market activity structure between Kenya and Europe – the globe’s largest coffee trade – has been stacked against them for many years.

But now, a recent threat looms, jeopardising farmers’ ability to make a living – climate transformation.

Coffee trees are extremely sensitive to tiny differences in temperature and weather conditions.

They also require specific climatic conditions like humid temperatures and ample rainfall to develop.

“Climate transformation is a major test for our coffee farmers,” says John Murigi, the chairman of the Komothai Coffee population, which represents 8,000 coffee farmers like Mr Macharia.

Cold temperatures and erratic rainfall are having a devastating impact on the delicate coffee plants, said Mr Murigi.

As a outcome, “coffee production has decreased over the last few years”.

He added that climate transformation was intensifying the spread of diseases in coffee plants.

Mr Murigi said there had been a significant boost in coffee leaf miners, bugs that feed on coffee leaves, and coffee berry disease, a destructive fungal infection that can wipe out more than 80% of crops.

To deal with the increasing outbreaks, farmers are resorting to using herbicides and insecticides that can damage soil standard in the long term and also pose health risks.

Farmers use risky herbicides like Roundup, which contain glyphosates known to factor cancers – banned in some European countries – to ensure they get a excellent harvest.

Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) of Kenya, in expense of regulating the use of these products, did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

The beans that are harvested are washed and dried near the farm

Kate Stanworth Coffee processors stand near a water channel where they're washing and drying the coffee beans. — The beans that are harvested are washed and dried near the farm

To produce a single cup of coffee can require up to 140 litres of water – including the water to develop the plants.

But in Kenya’s fertile Rift Valley, higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns cruel a decreasing water supply for coffee farmers.

Farmer Joseph Kimani told the BBC that the “river levels have gone down a lot” due to erratic weather, such as periods of drought and heavy rains.

He said that because of the lack of rain, farmers are forced to use more river water.

But this increased reliance on river water, driven by the lack of rainfall, may be further straining the already limited water supply.

While Mr Murigi acknowledges the rise in water use by coffee farmers, he denies this is why the river is drying up.

However, with 23 coffee societies in this region, a significant amount of water is clearly being used in the coffee growing procedure in Kiambu County.

Komothia’s narrative is not distinctive. As global temperatures and droughts boost, excellent coffee will become challenging to develop in all parts of the globe.

Once the beans are dried they are then usually exported for further processing

Kate Stanworth Workers process coffee beans at a coffee processing plant in Komothai, Kenya — Once the beans are dried they are then usually exported for further processing

Coffee can only be grown in the “coffee belt” – tropical regions around the globe in areas typically located at an altitude of between 1,000m and 2,000m.

In recent years, climate transformation has led to a shortage of global coffee supplies and an boost in the worth of coffee due to drought and crop failures in several key coffee-producing nations such as Brazil and Vietnam.

A survey by Fairtrade International, the organisation behind Fairtrade labels, found that 93% of Kenyan coffee farmers are already experiencing the effects of climate transformation.

The coffee industry in Kenya is a key source of employment, providing jobs for an estimated 150,000 people.

To protect the industry, coffee farmers in areas like Komothai are experimenting with climate adaptation techniques, such as planting trees to provide extra shade for the coffee plants.

Mr Murigi said it is only through addressing both the climate and economic challenges faced by Kenyan coffee farmers that they can have a sustainable upcoming.

However, coffee farmers like Mr Macharia are pessimistic about the industry’s upcoming.

“correct now, as things stand, I don’t ponder any parent wants their kid here farming coffee,” he said.