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TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER EDUCATION DIVISION GRADUATE PROGRAM Analysis of climate change vulnerability and adaptive capacity of small coffee producers in Turrialba, Costa Rica Thesis submitted to the Graduated School as a requirement to qualify for the degree of MAGISTER SCIENTIAE in Agroforestry and Sustainable Agriculture Fay Garnett Simmons Turrialba, Costa Rica 2019 Dedication With much love and appreciation to my patient, supportive and loving family - Roberto, Mahya, Monica and Roberto Marley. III Acknowledgements Firstly, I thank God for always making a way for me to succeed and fearlessly embrace life’s opportunities and challenges – I am blessed and highly favored. To my family, especially my partner Roberto Harrison who has not only been a great mentor, but my provider and strongest support during this learning process. Without you, this achievement would not have been possible – my sincere appreciation. To my Director, Dr. Elias de Melo Filho, Co-Director Guillermo Detlefsen (MSc.) and my Advisor Dr. Rolando Cerda – I am forever grateful for your kind support, knowledge, encouragement, patience and dedication in guiding me through this program. To my colleagues and friends from the Government of Belize - thank you for your support. To my scholarship donors from the USAID – thank you for investing me and facilitating the process for me to gain the maximum from this program. To the staff from the academic program, especially Ms. Aranjid, Ms. Marta, Mr. Braulio, Ms. Ariadne and Mr. Alfonso – you are a great team and I am grateful for all your support. To the persons from the transport department - David, Carlos, Luis, Diego and Marcelo. Thank you for taking me to the coffee farms. Without you all, this study would have been impossible. To all the producers who willingly shared information about their farms and helped me in making my research possible, especially Mr. Macario Fuentes, Don Martin, Don Victor, Don Buenaventura – Thank you very much. To members of Apoya Naturalba especially Ms. Marie Beautchet, Marleny, Ms. Katia – thank you. To Dr. Muhammed Ibrahim, Director of CATIE, who believed in me and supported me – Thank you for your support. To my dear friends Helen, Itzayana, Katia, and Catherine. Thank you for being there when times were hard and rough – ¡Que viva el café! To all my professors and colleagues from the Agroforestry and Sustainable Agriculture Master’s program, thank you for making this an unforgettable experience! IV Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 2. Objective ............................................................................................................................. 3 2.1 General Objective.............................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Specific Objectives ........................................................................................................ 3 3. Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 4 3.1 Objective No. 1 ................................................................................................................. 4 3.2 Objective No. 2 ................................................................................................................. 4 3.3 Objective No. 3 ................................................................................................................. 4 4. Referential Framework ....................................................................................................... 5 4.1 History of Coffee in Costa Rica .................................................................................... 5 4.2 Economic Importance ................................................................................................... 5 4.3 Coffee and Family Agriculture ..................................................................................... 6 4.4 Coffee Production Systems, Trends and Certification .................................................. 7 4.6 Climate Change and how it affects Coffee Production ................................................. 8 4.7 Regional Coffee Price, Production and Climate Change .............................................. 9 4.8 Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA – Café) ..................................... 11 4.9 Key definitions related to Climate Change ................................................................. 12 4.10 Climate Change Concerns and Initiatives in Central America ................................... 13 4.11 Tool for vulnerability analysis and adaptive capacity of coffee farms ....................... 15 5. Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 17 5.1 Location and description of the area of study ............................................................. 17 5.2 Description of the Association Apoya – Naturalba ..................................................... 17 5.3 General Description of the Research Process ............................................................. 18 5.4 Farm Selection Criteria ............................................................................................... 18 5.5 Calendarization of Farm Visits ................................................................................... 18 Objective No. 1 Description of producers and small productive units .................................. 19 5.6 Participatory Interviews and Farm Survey .................................................................. 19 5.7 Analysis of Producer Information and Farm Survey .................................................. 20 Objective No. 2 Comparison of vulnerability and adaptive capacity 2016 vs 2018 .............. 20 5.8 Analysis of Responses for variables of exposure, impacts and adaptive capacity (2016 vs 2018) – 8 farms .................................................................................................................. 20 5.9 Comparison and identification of principal limitations (2016 vs 2018) ..................... 20 Objective No. 3 Identification of adaptation measures implemented by producers in 2018 . 21 V 5.10 Analysis of Responses for variables regarding Exposure, Impacts and Adaptive Capacity (2018) – 26 farms .................................................................................................... 21 5.11 Farm Categorization based on Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity ......................... 21 5.12 Identification of principal limitations (2018) .............................................................. 21 5.14 Analysis of association between practices and production systems (2018) ................ 22 5.15 Participatory Workshop for identification and prioritization of limitations on coffee farms 22 5.16 Focal Group reflection and socialization of preliminary results ................................. 22 6. Results and discussion ...................................................................................................... 24 6.1 Description of Small Coffee Producers ....................................................................... 24 6.2 Technical Assistance ................................................................................................... 25 6.3 Description of Farm and Farming Systems ................................................................. 26 6.4 Farm Labour ................................................................................................................ 32 6.5 Coffee Production ....................................................................................................... 32 6.6 Coffee Processing, Certification and Distribution ...................................................... 33 6.7 Workforce, Structure, Installation and Equipment ..................................................... 34 6.8 Analysis of Responses for the variables of Exposure, Impact (Sensitivity + exposure) and Adaptive Capacity of Producers (2016 vs. 2018) ............................................................ 35 6.9 Identification of principal limitations according to Systems (Organic, Agrosustainable and Conventional) 2016 vs 2018............................................................................................ 39 6.10 Analysis of Responses for the variables of Exposure, Impact (Sensitivity + Exposure) and Adaptive Capacity of Producers (2018) (inclusive of farms evaluated in 2016). ........... 41 6.11 Categorization of Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity of coffee farms ................... 44 6.12 Identification of Principal Limitations by System (Conventional, Organic Agrosustainable) 2018. .......................................................................................................... 45 6.13 Identification of practices which were adopted by small producers of Apoya-Naturalba 48 6.14 Effects of practices in coffee production systems (Organic, Sustainable and Conventional Coffee stsyems) ............................................................................................... 49 6.15 Limitations faced by small producers to confront climate change ............................. 52 7. Conclusions ......................................................................................................................