67. For Coffee, Climate Change is a Reality and Research is On-going

21. February, 2017

Climate change is not a theoretical discussion for coffee farmers. The question is "when" and "how" to deal with it. Unlike some folks in comfortable chairs in oval offices in Washington D.C., coffee farmers do not have the luxury of discussing "if" it exists. So organizations across the coffee industry are tackling the issue, hoping to learn from farmer experiences and share the best of what is known with farmers who may be struggling to adapt.

In December 2016 a colleague of mine at Michigan State University, Aniseh Bro, finished her Ph.D. in Community Sustainability on adaptation to climate change by coffee farmers in Nicaragua. [Formal title is: Biodiversity, Climate Change and Livelihoods: A Study on Economic and Ecological Sustainability Among Coffee Producers in the Highlands of Nicaragua.] 

Her thesis explores potential pathways for climate change adaptation via three separate studies. 

1. First, she looks at the characteristics of coffee producers in northern Nicaragua. Bro explores their attitudes towards risk through the use of experimental risk games. She finds that household food insecurity is a determinant of risk aversion, and that coffee income is important insofar as it results in greater food security.  Below is a graphic depicting the relationships:

 

The slide below shows farmers' responses with disaggregation to show which responses are due to which of three shocks: pests, drought or flood.

This study also mentions the gender gap. Women are consistently worse off than men in this sample from northern Nicaragua. They are more vulnerable and more food insecure. Therefore, equitable interventions are needed. The table below shows some of the data, and a tell-tale public relations message is also shown in the photo to the left.

 

2. In the second study, Bro uses choice experiments to elicit farmers' preferences for shade incorporation into coffee farms. Shade helps protect soils, promote biodiversity and mitigate effects of higher temperatures from climate change or other causes. She finds that for a small pay premium, farmers are willing to incorporate additional shade into their farms. An unexpected finding is that farmers are not willing to give up any coffee income to have better access to pesticides, a likely reflection of the recent leaf rust outbreak in the country and the poor institutional response.

 3. The third study analyzes the degree to which cooperatives help farmers have adaptive capacity to climate change. Results show that cooperative membership is associated with higher adoption of practices recommended for adapting to climate change, such as planting shade trees and mulching. Cooperative membership is also a significant determinant of practices that promote water conservation. 

66. Leat at Origin Training in Kayanza, Burundi

Jan. 31 - Feb. 3, 2017
COCOCA is an umbrella organization of about 32 cooperatives in Burundi. Dusangirijambo is one of the most innovative and energetic among the group. The Dusangirijambo president is Rémége NZOBIRINDA.

They are a warm and friendly people, welcoming me on the day I arrived with an awesome performance by a drum & dance group! Some of the drummer/dancers were boys, maybe 12 years old. Very talented! And most of them, I was told, are coffee farmers.

Dusangirijambo organized a fantastic drum & dance performance for my welcome!

I enjoyed my week with this cooperative so much. The first day we scoped out how I would teach in their "reception building", the concrete block pavilion where farmers bring their cherry in bags to have them weighed, and then the bags are emptied into big, waiting concrete tanks. Fortunately, I had been warned there would be no electricity at this location, so I was not expecting to be able to use a powerpoint projector. I had printed key slides onto flipchart size paper and John (my husband) had rigged up a special hanger for the flipcharts that only required one, or if possible, two nails to hang!

One-room school house.

Leadership Training: The first two days were with the leadership of Dusangirijambo. The leadership training went well. We covered the concepts of Lean, like "Lean is not Mean", "flow" and the all-important, "9 wastes." The group enjoyed the practice exercises like "6S scoring" and an airplane production simulation.

Leadership Training, Jan. 31 & Feb. 1

Supervisor Training: The second two days were with the supervisor level and more of the workers. I gave a brief introduction to the key concepts, like the 9 wastes, and then we jumped into preparing to implement their first KAIZEN. Most of the second day was spent in their teams, working on the following three projects:
Team 1. Increase space on drying tables for coffee by 10%
Team 2. Increase skill of management of the drying tables (this area has the most employees)
Team 3. Double the space where the dry coffee is stored (warehouse).

Supervisor Training, Feb. 2 & 3

Results of KAIZEN events
The results of these "first time" KAIZEN projects were modest. Despite my over-emphasis and constant reminders that KAIZEN is about action, not talk, it is not easy to break through the cultural barriers of "who does which work." And, unfortunately, we really did not have much time. They had about 2 hours instead of a full day to work on implementation.

For example, team 1, tasked with increasing capacity of the tables, recommended a place where 70 more tables should be built. All around us on this day there were teams of builders re-building the current drying tables and these workers had been hired to do that job. So it just felt too strange to my Lean class members to start doing the same job these others were being paid to do, right along side them.

But, in this case, there was also a break-through moment. A senior leader said, "what if we just make sure we remove the coffee from the tables at exactly the right time?" It was brilliant! Everyone agreed and suddenly everyone was understanding what we meant about improving the "flow" of material. It was agreed that the cooperative would save about 700,000 BUF (the cost of 70 tables, about $440) if the improved timing worked as well as they hoped.

Team 2 did an excellent job discussing the metrics that a manager of the drying table staff could implement to monitor and control capacity and quality.

Team 3 made a checklist for the area (a big improvement) and included concepts of safety (one of the 9 wastes) and straightening (one of the 6S areas). Overall, though they were  too much "thinking in the box," though, proposing to raise the roof of the warehouse 8 meters to make more space at a cost of 10 million BUF (~ $7,000). When I reminded them, "there's no budget", then a breakthrough idea came! "Maybe we could have the trucks come to pick up the coffee more frequently. We own the trucks, so it is not very expensive." It was a "eureka!" moment.

Most of them understood how important this lean concept was, of keeping the flow going, eliminating the "waste" of stoppage and waiting. But to drive it home I said, "how many would like to have 10 million BUF more in the cooperative budget when it comes time to pay bonuses at the end of the season?" Everyone raised their hand with enthusiasm! I believe we then had 100% comprehension of why the cooperative should implement Lean.

KAIZEN Team 1 - Increase space on drying tables by 10%.

KAIZEN Team 2 - Increase skills of management of drying tables area.

KAIZEN Team 3: Double the space where the coffee will be stored.

Ruth and Jean Bosco NKURIKIYE (translator) co-teaching

Class in session.