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Tea and coffee growers in Latin America and Africa have been severely affected by climate change

Cafedirect is working to help tea and coffee growers in Latin America and Africa cope with the impact of climate change and improve their access to financial and technical support.

Run in association with the German Technical Cooperation, the three-year AdapCC project coincides with a record spike in Kenyan tea prices, brought on by recent droughts, as well as a global decline in coffee harvests.

According to the organisers, coffee and tea production in nations such as Kenya, Nicaragua, Peru and Ethiopia is one of the sectors most affected by climate change, as the crops only grow in a very limited temperature range, meaning global warming can have a devastating impact on the industry.

The AdapCC project is the first of its kind to pioneer regionally-specific practical responses to climate change. It has worked with grower communities to develop new ways of coping with the changes to farming conditions, for example diversifying into other crops, using land to sell carbon credits and improving water planning.

It differs from other schemes such as Fairtrade in that it aims to guarantee growers a product to sell, rather than simply a fair price.

Commenting on AdapCC, Wolfgang Weinmann, head of strategic of development at Cafedirect, said: "Climate change is real, it's happening right now, and its effects are most severe for those least equipped to deal with them."

"While there's no universal panacea to the problems farmers face, AdapCC has clearly demonstrated that by working directly with the grower communities, we can collectively combat the effects of climate change," he added.

The three-year pilot scheme comes to an end in February next year, however, the group states that interest from a number of parties, including the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, means it will have wider implications in the future.

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