Impact of climate change on Ethiopian Arabica coffee production and current challenges it poses to coffee value chain

Abstract

Ethiopia’s coffee sector, pivotal to the nation’s economy and cultural identity, is currently navigating a labyrinth of natural factors with climate change casting a long and formidable shadow over the future. This necessitates various measures to improve coffee sector resilience through the use of sustainable agricultural techniques. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the effects of climate change on Arabica coffee production and the challenges it poses to the coffee value chain. This study used a mixed approach that combined both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Data were collected from 1020 coffee producers through a survey, 30 focus group discussions, and 67 semi-structured interviews. The findings show that climate change affects Arabica coffee by increasing temperature, changing rainfall patterns, and extreme weather occurrences, leading to disease proliferation, post-harvest loss, shifting suitable coffee areas, and expansion of khat and commercial trees. Generally, the current impact of climate change on the coffee value chain underscores the immediate need for policymakers and agricultural practitioners to effectively implement sustainable coffee production, processing, storage, and transport methods to enhance the sector’s resilience.