Access to improved Coffee Varieties and soil fertility

challenges and solutions forcoffee smallholders

Christophe MontagnonWCR Scientific Director

What we think we know

and maybe we do not

Preamble: Sharing ideas

Increased Yieldis not always

increased profitabilityGAPs

Extra Yield well documented

Extra costs and/or extra labor ??

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Coffee (other mild) Urea coffee/Urea

Historical coffee and urea pricesFertilizers recommendations profitability?

Year Coffee / ureaPrice ratio

1985-2000 20 to 70

2000-2015 10 to 20

Are 80’s recommendations still profitable?

One message does not always fit for allInteractions GAPs x

SoilClimate

Farm business model…..

Coffee AgroEcological DiversityWCR-CIAT scientific paper in PlosOne 2015

Farm business model ?

Large estates

SmallholdersCoffee dependant

Multi cropMulti activities (off farm activities)

It is not always about helping farmers decrease

production costsSometime help them

Increase their production cost to attainprofitability!

Equivalent one Ha Coffee Production – Adapted from Technoserve, AFCA conference Nairobi, Feb 2015

Production costs of smallholders are often close to zero

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Estate Kenya Estate Brazil Smallholder Rwanda Smallholder Ethiopia

Overal cost to produce coffee Gross revenue from coffee Production cost

What we think we knowand maybe we do not

Way forward is Business Driven Research

Preamble: Sharing ideas

Business driven researchto increase farmer profitability

1) Focus on farmers bottom lineYield increase must translate into farmer profitability

2) Capture the diverse targeted environmentsSoil, climate, farm business model, growing system to give relevant and profitable recommendations

Example: Network of multilocation / multisystem trials …

where costs and benefits are monitored

Varieties :

Challenges for smallholders

4 challenges for smallholders to benefit from improved varieties

1. Knowing which varieties are best

2. Having them available

3. Getting what is paid for

4. Getting a loan for replanting

Old varieties

1. Know which varieties are best

SL28K7N39HarrarBMJBM139BM71Jackson….

CLR / CBD Resistant

Cat129F6BatianEthiopian fixed lines

Ruiru 11Tz HybridsEthiopian hybrids

(Some) Latest CLR / CBD ResistantElsewhere in the world

Colombia- Castillo

Brazil- Obata- Caturra SH3

Central America Mexico- F1 hybrids- Marsellesa

Business driven research for best varieties • Bottomline = CBD and rust resistance

• Yield stability and climate smart

• Cup quality

2. Having varieties available (mass multiplication)Manual pollination (CRI - Kenya) Horticultural cuttings (TaCri - Tanzania)

Tissue culture– Ecom-Cirad (Central America and Mexico)

Current big(est) challengeNot the job of research institutions,

lack of private sector investment in Africa

3. Getting what is paid for

4. Getting a loan for replanting

Role of business driven research

• Providing hard data for farmers to built a loanportfolio

• On farm demo trials

4 challenges for smallholders to benefit from genetic progress

1. Know which varieties are best

2. Having them available (mass multiplication)

3. Farmers trust they get what they are paying for

4. Getting a loan

• Include smallholders specific criteria for varietal selection

• Better inform on best adapated varieties (shade, altitude, soil, climate)

• Facilitate private investment in mass multiplication and distribution

• Facilitate fair regional / international exchange of best varieties

• Nursery verification (namely genetics conformity and nursery practices)

• Provide hard facts to built a loan portfolio

Towards a real professional coffee

seed sector(like any other crop)

Soil fertility

Challenges for smallholders

2 challenges for smallholders to manage soil fertility

1. Being convinced that soil fertility recommendations are

really profitable

2. Getting specific recommendations for diverse

environments

1. Being convinced that soil fertility recommendations are really profitable

Input

Output = InputNet revenu = 0

Net revenu

Research recommendationsEstablished in high input zone

Recommendationsin low input zone ?

Fertilization investment

Reve

nue

from

coffe

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oduc

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Monitore trials in different environments

1. Being convinced that soil fertility recommendations are really profitable

Sustainable « free » practices: composting, soil conservation measures...

• Labor time

• Hard labor: composting digging holes, moving organic matter for composting, moving compost back to the field

2. Getting specific recommendations for diverse environments: Soil Intelligence (see Jeremy and Carole’s presentation)

But also Interactions with shade, intercropping…

Piet Van Asten, IITA, presentation at coffee renaissance summit, Oct 2015 Nairobi)

2 challenges for smallholders to manage soil fertility

1. Being convinced that soil fertility recommendations are really profitable

2. Getting specific recommendations for diverse environments

• Establish profitable recommendations to climb from low to higher input systems

• Systematically evaluate input costs: agroproducts and labor needs• Generalize soil analysis.• Work hand in hand with input providers to identify best products and

formulaes.

Some Actions

AFCA-WCR Breeding workshop and Coffee Renaissance summit(Nairobi, October 2015)

East and southern Africa breeding platform

• Hub in CRI Kenya

• Core collection to be introduced from Central America based on WCR Genetic Diversity Analysis

• Next generation F1 hybrid crosses based on molecular breeding

30 best varieties worldwide exchangeFirst time everSame trial in 20 countries including DR Congo, Kenya and soon Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

WCR International Multilocation Variety Trial

On Farm Demo Trials Network

• Simple : 2-3 varieties and 2 soil treatments• Partnering with private sector and producers groups (Partners welcome)• Monitoring costs and benefits• Hard facts for increased profitability, i.e loan portfolio• Showcase and increase demand for new varieties• Network covering different:

• Soils• Climates• Altitudes• Farm business models• Growing systems

• Centralized data storage• « Big data » Interactions studies

Access to improved Coffee Varieties and soil fertility

challenges and solutions forcoffee smallholders

Thank you