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Enacy Mapakame 

Herald Correspondent 

Climate change-related weather volatility is posing a threat to the quality and viability of coffee production by smallholder farmers in the Samanga and Muriganzara areas in Honde Valley, Manicaland. 

As the weather becomes warmer each season, the coffee beans are ripening much earlier, before absorbing enough nutrients, thus compromising quality. 

Apart from causing early ripening, climate change has seen an increase in the prevalence of droughts, erratic rainfall patterns, pests, flooding and heavy winds. 

In 2019, Zimbabwe was hit by Tropical Cyclone Idai which destroyed about 30 percent of coffee trees. 

“The weather is becoming warmer each season. To be honest, I was not ready to start harvesting, but my coffee is ripening already and at a faster rate than last year” said Mr Siyaso Chawa a farmer in Mutasa District.

Over-ripening on the other hand is also problematic. 

“This crop has already reached the harvesting stage but there is nothing we can do about it because it is raining now. We need sunshine for drying” said Mr Caston Duri adjusting his umbrella while checking his plants at his field in Samanga last week. 

Mr Duri has been a coffee farmer since 1982 and experienced a slowdown in production in 1992 due to drought and around 2000 due to shortage of inputs particularly fertilisers. 

Coffee harvesting and processing requires a farmer to be well prepared financially and materially especially labour for picking which is critical in avoiding losses due to over-ripening. 

“After harvesting, it takes about 14 days to dry but if the weather is bad with incessant rains, the quality is compromised. Our aim is to get the top grade which fetches more money on the market,” said another farmer Mrs Vangrista Muranda. According to tZhe farmers, the Swiss coffee brand Nespresso buys the highest grade — AAA — at about US$8 per kilogramme with the lowest attracting about US$7 a kilogramme. Local buyers pay about US$4 to US$5 per kilogramme for the lowest grade.

On average, 500 trees produce about 1,5 tonnes of coffee in a season. 

At peak period, each station comprising two plants can produce about 8kg of coffee depending on weather conditions and availability of inputs. Currently the farmers in Samanga are getting about 1,5kg per station from trees that are three years old. They aspire to reach at least 6kg per station all things being equal. 

African Youth Initiative on Climate Change Zimbabwe programmes manager Ms Elizabeth Gulugulu said climate change had fast become a menace to agriculture not only for Zimbabwe but across the region.

“We continue to experience negative effects of climate change and if no measures are taken in the next five to 10 years we will continue facing food insecurity, malnutrition, pests and diseases among many others. Currently due to prolonged rainfall crops are affected and heavily stressed therefore affecting yield growth,” she said adding more support was needed especially in educating farmers on smart agriculture and climate adaptation. 

“Most support needed in the sector will be financial support to implement the policies and create resilient communities. More can be done by the Government in terms of capacitating agriculture extension officers and vulnerable communities and making sure they have access to the right technologies, drought tolerant seeds and water harvesting equipment.” 

While farmers in Samanga complained about the high cost of inputs and the adverse impact of climate change, they also commended Nespresso and TechnoServe for revitalising coffee sectors in the region.

By serving as a buyer to local farmers, Nespresso has helped to stabilise the market while also financing TechnoServe’s staff working on the ground with the communities, training farmers and providing technical expertise in recommended practices.

TechnoServe is implementing the Nespresso Zimbabwe Reviving Origins programme that seeks to revive the coffee sector through improving production and quality in an environmentally sustainable manner and boosting earnings for farmers. The initiative supports smallholder coffee producers in four districts in Manicaland: Chipinge, Chimananimani, Honde Valley and Vumba. 

“Our programme is training farmers on these effects of climate change and we are increasing their resilience through recommending regenerative agriculture practices such as inter-cropping, mulching, composting, efficient water use, soil health management, integrated pest and disease management techniques, shade management and proper coffee nutrition, fertiliser application that is guided by soil and leafy analysis. 

“Additionally, the programme is piloting weather indexed insurance to cushion farmers against losses associated with drought, heavy wind and excess rainfall. We are supporting and encouraging farmers to plant shade trees in their coffee fields. “We encourage them to plant local adapted indigenous trees such as Albizia (Mujerenje) and fruit trees like bananas. We also promote the use of water-saving technologies in processing their coffee,” said programme manager Dr Midway Bhunu.

Although accounting for a paltry 0,2 percent of the global coffee production, at its peak, Zimbabwe produced about 15,000 tonnes of the best quality coffee (Arabica) alongside renowned countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Uganda, Mexico and Kenya. 

 Within Africa, coffee production in Zimbabwe at its peak in the early 1990s and even then lagged behind several East African countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. However, Zimbabwe produced more coffee than her close neighbours — Zambia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Southern African. 

The coffee sector employed over 20,000 people in Zimbabwe and contributed an estimated 2,1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and earned US$54 million in foreign currency. 

Currently, the country produces a total of 430 tonnes from two commercial estates and about 400 smallholder farmers. Of the total production, 95 percent is exported while 5 percent is consumed locally. 

Coffee exports generate an estimated sales revenue of $2 655 250.