Programme de bourses "Echanges Universitaires"

An ecosystem service approach to coffee production in a landscape mosaic

The mosaic landscape of the Western Ghats in Kodagu, south India is a unique environment that has been traditionally managed for centuries by local customs. The landscape comprises a mixture of rice fields, coffee plantations, which cover more than two thirds of the area, and native forest patches (many of them associated with religious beliefs) that are immensely important as repositories of biodiversity. Coffee productivity in Kodagu is partially dependent on pollination services, which are in turn increased by the presence of close large forests.

Based on cup tasting and bean characteristics, we were also able to determine the impact of pollination, management practices and environmental variables on coffee quality. We found out that cup tasting does not depend on any of the 13 criteria we investigated, but that the proportion of beans of larger size (the largest beans being of the highest quality, hence more likely to fetch a higher price) is linked to the density of native shade trees.

Using this information as well as the information generated through the preceding study on coffee pollination, we organized a series of five workshops to inform planters and institutions on the influence of bee pollination on coffee production, in relation with the landscape structure, as well as the cup tasting results.

Kodagu, the region where the study was carried out, where the main three vegetation types are visible: paddy in the foreground, coffee shaded by forest species in the background, and a patch of low forest in between.

ETH Zürich ITES
Dr. Virginie Boreux
Ecosystem Management group
Universitätstrasse 16
8092 Zürich
http://www.ecology.ethz.ch/
virginie.boreux@env.ethz.ch

Partner institutions:

College of Forestry – University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore
Prof. CG Kushalappa
Ponnampet, Kodagu District
India
http://www.uasbangalore.edu.in/asp/forestryPonnampet.asp
kushalcg@gmail.com

French Institute of Pondicherry
Dr Claude Garcia
11, Saint Louis Street
Pondicherry – 605 001
India
http://www.ifpindia.org/-en-.html
claude.garcia@cirad.fr