There are so many popular foods as well as beverages that are grown by small-scale farmers around the world. So many of these farmers are finding it hard to continually grow crops due to extremely harsh weather patterns. There are droughts, floods, and other weather threats. So many formats are changing the crops that they grow due to these extreme weather patens. Here are the crops that are affected by climate change as well as the role that technology is playing in order to mitigate these challenges.
Coffee
Coffee is important in many people’s daily lives. There are so many people who drink coffee on a daily basis. Climate change is causing a great risk to this important beverage. Small-scale farmers are finding it hard to grow coffee due to the fact that there are rising temperatures, extreme weather patterns, as well as unpredictable rainfall patterns. Changes in weather patterns have resulted in the increase in pests and plant diseases. Farmers around the world are now forced to invest more using their very limited resources so that they can maintain coffee yields.
Some farmers are introducing climate-smart techniques in their farms in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. Things like growing coffee in shades are some of the things that farmers are doing in order to avoid harsh weather patterns.
Cocoa
Cocoa is mainly grown in the tropical regions near the equator. Also, it is mainly grown by small-scale farmers who depend on it for income that helps feed their families, maintain their farms as well as sending their children to school. Climate change is affecting the land that those farmers use to produce cocoa. It is reducing the land that the farmers use due to high temperatures. In Africa and Latin America, some farmers are abandoning crops and resorting to cocoa production. This is because of the rising temperatures and lack of rainfall.
Cashew
Droughts and unseasonal rainfall that is caused by climate change is impacting the production of cashew. Cashew is popular as it is used as a snack as well as a recipe ingredient. Cashew nuts are mostly grown in Africa. The cashew nuts are then shipped to Asia, mostly to India and Vietnam for processing. The cashew nuts are then sent to the United States as well as Europe where it is then roasted and packaged.
Beer
The fact that beer is being affected by climate change means that the costs of the beverage might go up. The main ingredient of the beverage which is barley is sensitive to heat and drought. Global warming is causing heat and drought. Barley yields could decrease by 17% by 2099. This means some small scale farmers are going to lose part of their income and the product is going to have an increase in prices. There are weather solutions that can be used to mitigate the impact of these climate change problems. There are weather forecasting providers that farmers can get in touch with to make sure that some of these things do not affect them.