Uganda Drink That?

Ugandan coffee endangered by climate change

Posted at 3:52 PM on 17 Jul 2008

Uganda's coffee industry could be basically kaput in 30 years, according to a new Oxfam report. Uganda is Africa's second-largest coffee exporter after Ethiopia, but the report direly predicts that if "average global temperatures rise by two degrees or more, then most of Uganda is likely to cease to be suitable for coffee." In the last two decades, inconsistent weather has reduced crop yields and plant varieties and increased drought, flooding, landslides, and erosion. "Rains may come early and then stop for long periods; they may come when it is supposed to be dry. People describe living through long periods of hot dry weather when it should be raining steadily, punctuated by very strong winds, thunder, lightning, and destructive hailstorms," says the report. "The crucial effect, then, is that the growing period for crops is shortened." Seriously, climate change, you've mucked with water, beer, and wine -- can't you leave coffee alone?

sources:  Reuters, allAfrica, Oxfam
see also, in Grist:  Umbra advises on coffee