CIRAD and partners want to find ways to tackle pests such as coffee berry borer.
Led by CIRAD, the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development, and supported by Agropolis Fondation, which coordinates a network of research organizations, a number of leading roasters and traders came together to tackle the issue of pesticide use in the coffee sector.
In addition to CIRAD and Agropolis Fondation, the private-public consortium they formed for the Ecoffee R&D Initiative (Ecoffee) includes seven roasters – illy-caffè, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lavazza, Nestlé, Paulig, Starbucks, and Tchibo; three green coffee suppliers – ECOM, Mercon, and Olam; and three other research organizations — Universidade Federal de Viçosa in Brazil, the Nicafrance Foundation in Nicaragua, and the Western Highlands Agriculture & Forestry Science Institute in Vietnam.
Together, they hope to make the coffee value chain more sustainable by progressively reducing pesticide use, aspiring towards “zero chemical” pesticides, while ensuring that growing coffee remains viable for farmers.Pooling expertise, human and financial resources, and networks, the partners initiated an international audit of pesticide use and practices. They expect the results of the audit to serve as a reference for an initiative that supports the whole coffee sector.
“Long-term, intensive use of pesticides, including herbicides, fungi- cides, and insecticides raises concerns for the environment, biodiversity, and people,” said CIRAD. “The extent to which ecosystems are impacted by pesticide use in coffee farming has been insufficiently addressed.”
The partners in the Ecoffee plan to non-pesticide-based pest control approaches. Ecoffee members will put particular emphasis on disseminating and communicating to farmers effective approaches to pest and disease control that do not require the use of pesticides.
Work assessing pesticide use and practices is already underway in Brazil and Vietnam, the world’s leading producers, and in Mexico and Nicaragua. Farmer surveys are combined with the analyses of more than 600 pesticide residues in coffee cherries, green coffee, and soil and a survey of insect biodiversity. These baseline studies will compare cropping systems and pesticide use in the target countries and be made publicly accessible through scientific publications. The results will also serve as a reference for monitoring the potential of pest management innovations to be tested at later stages in the Ecoffee project.
Later in 2021, the partners in Ecoffee will start building bridges with major coffee sustainability platforms and plan to organize a workshop to bring experts together to review and share knowledge on pesticide use and ways to reduce the use of chemicals. They also plan to launch a participatory “call for innovation” to identify the most promising innovations and alternatives to the use of pesticides. These will be evaluated downstream in the Ecoffee network. Once the best approaches are identified, they plan to embark on a decade-long effort to transition toward a more sustainable approach to pest control.