Coffee-producing areas in Latin America could be reduced by up to 88% by 2050 as a result of climate change: it must be borne in mind that these areas are the largest in the world.
If so, coffee would become a rare, ergo expensive product . However, the bees could save it.
Saviors: bees
The first relevant study on the projected impacts of climate change on coffee and the bees that help this seed to grow has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
According to the director of the Gund Institute for the Environment at the University of Vermont (UVM), Taylor Ricketts , co-author of the study:
Coffee is one of the most valuable products on earth and it needs a suitable climate and pollinating bees to produce well. This is the first study to show how both are likely to change under global warming.
The study also identified future coffee growing regions where bee numbers and diversity are likely to increase.
If there are bees in the coffee plots, they are very efficient and very good at pollinating, so productivity increases and so does the weight of the berries .
The study was conducted with advanced models, spatial analysis and field data and provides strategies to improve coffee growth and bee pollination.