By Oliver Griffin
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian deforestation linked to coffee crops hit 737,000 hectares (1.8 million acres) between 2002 and 2023, according to a report on Wednesday that warned negative environmental impacts from forest loss could affect the country’s coffee industry.
Direct deforestation – where land was cleared to grow coffee – led to some 312,803 hectares being torn down over the period, Coffee Watch said in its report, adding that the rest came from additional forest loss on coffee farms.
Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer and exporter, producing tens of millions of 60-kilogram bags of coffee each year. However, its future is in jeopardy, Coffee Watch said, due to the impact of forest loss on the rains needed for the crops.
“Brazil needs to reverse course urgently because this deforestation isn’t just a carbon and biodiversity disaster – it’s also killing rains and leading to crop failures,” Coffee Watch director Etelle Higonnet said in a statement.
In Minas Gerais, Brazil’s top coffee-producing state, eight of the last 10 years registered deficits in rain, Coffee Watch said, adding that NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite mission shows that soil moisture has dropped by up to 25% over six years in top-producing zones.
While Brazil’s coffee growers have traditionally depended on the country’s abundant spring and summer rains, droughts in recent years have pushed farmers to explore costly irrigation options to keep up with global demand.
The report combined data from MapBiomas, Hansen Global Forest Change and NASA among other sources, to reach its conclusions.
Brazilian coffee growers must embrace sustainable agroforestry practices – currently used in less than 1% of key coffee zones – to ensure the industry’s future, the report said.
Brazilian coffee exporter’s group Cecafe said the report focuses on deforestation from whole municipalities and does not analyze the dynamics of preserving native vegetation on coffee farms themselves.
Cecafe pointed to research published by the Federal University of Minas Gerais in 2023, which found that 99% of the 115,000 coffee-producing properties registered on the rural environmental registry have not shown significant deforestation since 2008.
(Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Nia Williams)
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