Due to climate change and the associated extreme weather events, plagues and pest infestations, the cultivation of highland coffee (Coffea Arabica) at lower altitudes of up to 1.000 m above sea level has become unattractive. Farmers are forced to cultivate their land differently or to migrate to higher altitudes. This development further accelerates deforestation and climate change and leads to social tensions. In the RobustAmazonia project, these coffee farmers are restoring their fallow coffee fincas with fast-growing Inga trees (Leguminosae) and can thus use their land to grow lowland coffee (Coffea Canephora, also Robusta) in a mixed agroforestry-subsistence economic system.
*** Description by project sponsor ***
