Climate Variability and Coffee Productivity in Southern Guatemala
Abstract
The Samalá River watershed in the Pacific coast of Guatemala is critical for staple and cash crop production due to particular climate conditions along the basin that allow for diverse agricultural yields. The Samalá River watershed is also known for having one of the highest incidences of natural disasters in the country, associated to hydrological extremes. Among the diverse agricultural productivity in the region, coffee stands as one of the most important export crops. This area has experienced several coffee crises in recent years as a consequence of an abrupt change in commodity prices in the early 2000's, as well as the recent coffee leaf rust outbreak in 2013. Concomitantly, little has been investigated regarding the influence of natural climate variability on the productivity of coffee farms in the region. In this study we explore the relationships between several climatic variables and coffee productivity at different altitudinal gradients in the watershed. We also aim to better understand how coffee farmers access and use climate information for decision-making at farm level. To achieve this, we partnered with the National Coffee Association in Guatemala to retrieve productivity data from 15 medium to large coffee fincas located at different altitudinal gradients within the Samalá watershed. We collected historical productivity data from each farm from around 1990 to 2016 and conducted semi-structured interviews with the coffee producers to determine their access to climate information and the use of it regarding decisions at farm level. Our results suggest that productivity in farms located under 800 m continues to show a declining trend while farms above this altitude suggest an increasing productivity trend. Correlations between increasing precipitation and productivity have been found. This study also found that only 60% of the farmers currently believe that the climate at their farm remain suitable for coffee. Furthermore, despite that a local record of precipitation is generally available in these coffee farms, there is a need for multi-timescale forecast information on precipitation expressed by all the farmers in the study, as it is a main driver of coffee productivity and quality.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMGC51C..04P
- Keywords:
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- 1616 Climate variability;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1626 Global climate models;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1630 Impacts of global change;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1807 Climate impacts;
- HYDROLOGY