Coffee and Environmental Services in the Western Ghats

Objectives

The baseline scenario described for Kodagu landscape is one of intensification of coffee cultivation leading to the removal of shade trees and the loss of the environmental services provided by the biodiversity rich agroforestry system. Innovative solutions and new production strategies incorporating biodiversity conservation and sustainable development must be developed in order to avoid it.

The main objective of CAFNET is to link sustainable management and environmental benefits of coffee agroforests with appropriate remuneration for producers through better access to markets and payment for environmental services. This involves finding ways to improve livelihoods for coffee farming communities while conserving natural resources in a major coffee agroforest region located in a world hotspot for biodiversity.

The specific objectives are:

• To assess the environmental services provided by biodiversity rich, multi-storied coffee based agroforestry systems.
• To link environmental services and biodiversity to economic and agronomic factors in coffee plantations.
• To develop management strategies enabling farming communities to improve their livelihood while sustaining the production of environmental goods and services to the local and global community.

Materials and Methods

• Identify watersheds and target communities,
• Participatory assessment of socio-economic and environmental impacts of coffee agroforestry practices and definition of guidelines for sustainable coffee practices, including biodiversity inventories in coffee agroforests of target watersheds.
• Evaluate the environmental goods and services produced by coffee agroforestry and assess the farmers’ legal constraints to adoption of agroforestry practices.
• Develop methodologies, particularly GIS, to scale up and integrate biophysical and economic results from plot and farm level to watershed, for impact monitoring.
• Disseminate methods and impact assessments to national, regional and global partners.

This is part of an international research project (CAFNET, Connecting, enhancing and sustaining environmental services and market values of coffee agroforestry in Central America, East Africa and India). The project spans over 7 countries (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and India). It will establish links between the research teams and producers from the three major coffee production areas, all set in biodiversity hotspots.

Partners

See project outline.

Team of CAFNET project

Project Leader:

• Dr. Philippe Vaast – CAFNET Project Leader (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement CIRAD)

Regional Leaders:

• Dr. Elias de Melo – Central America Team Leader (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica, CATIE).
• Dr. Jean-Marc Boffa – East Africa Team Leader (World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF).
• Dr. C. G. Kushalappa – Indian Team Leader (University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore).

Main Outputs

Work in progress. Starting date: January 2007.