Everyone feels like they are being scammed': can Central America's small coffee growers survive as global prices fall?

"For Leiva and his family, coffee has never been just a crop. His mother, Marina Marinero, remembers when the rains arrived on schedule and the harvest could be planned months in advance. Today, the calendar no longer holds. Decisions about pruning, fertilising and hiring labour feel like educated guesses. Each mistake carries a cost the family cannot afford."

"As the climate crisis deepens, Latin America's coffee producers from the steep hillsides of Central America to the forests of Brazil and the Andean slopes of Colombia are facing an existential threat. While global markets still project an image of abundance, small farmers across the region are struggling with rising costs, unpredictable weather and a shrinking workforce, forcing many to question whether coffee farming remains viable."

"The climate crisis poses an escalating threat by driving up temperatures in key growing regions. A recent Climate Central analysis found that the world's five largest producers Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia and Indonesia now face an average of 57 additional days of damaging heat each year."

Latin American coffee farmers face an existential crisis as climate change disrupts traditional growing patterns and increases production challenges. Oscar Leiva in El Salvador exemplifies this struggle, experiencing unpredictable rainfall, early flowering followed by stalling, and heatwaves that reduce crop quality and increase costs. The region produces over half of global coffee output, but farmers across Central America, Brazil, and Colombia confront rising temperatures, unpredictable weather patterns, and shrinking workforces. Climate Central analysis reveals that the world's five largest coffee producers now experience an average of 57 additional damaging heat days annually, with Brazil facing 70 extra hot days yearly. High temperatures stress coffee plants, reducing productivity and forcing small farmers to question the viability of continuing coffee production.

Read at www.theguardian.com