Collect information from stakeholders

Abstract

Local experts, such as staff from coffee extension services or coffee traders, often have in-depth knowledge about the regional or local coffee production systems, about the farmers and their situation as well as about any prominent challenges that exist. In individual interviews or meetings, these stakeholders can provide helpful information about climate-related risks and potential options for adaptation.

Method

Meetings or interviews with stakeholders (mainly local experts)

Expected Results

Identified climate-related risks for coffee production and farmer livelihoods
Identified possible adaptation options from experience or investigation

Theory

The main objective of these meetings or interviews is to find out how these local experts have observed climate change impacts at the local level, and to see if they have any ideas on how to address them.

Interviews should be semi-structured, with questions such as the following:

Have you noted any changes in the local climate over the last 20 to 30 years? If so, what are these changes and when did they take effect?
Have you noticed any changes in rainfall or temperature in specific months or seasons? Have there been any changes in production cycles?
What are the expected impacts of climate change for this region?
What will be the consequences for coffee production?
What might these changes mean for coffee farmers and smallholders in particular?
How do farmers perceive climate change and its impacts on their coffee farms?
What are your recommendations for adapting to these changes?

The main setback for these meetings can sometimes simply be a lack of time on the part of the interviewee (see “Learning from experience: Stakeholder meetings or individual interviews?” below). If this is the case, individual interviews can be a good alternative to a workshop or meeting. Prepare a simple interview template that allows you to be consistent and take notes under template headings.

Learning from experience

Stakeholder meetings or individual interviews?

In the c&c pilot in Brazil, it was difficult to include stakeholders in the process on a regular basis. c&c staff intended to create an expert group to accompany project implementation, to assess field experiences and to turn to for answers to important questions. It was hoped that this would provide a good exchange of information and include local expertise right from the start.

However, it is important to consider that these activities are usually seen as extra work on top of daily business. Face-to-face meetings might be difficult due to distance or time, and frequent telephone conferences are often too time-consuming. The incorporation of local experts is therefore often limited, which is something you must accept, but some obstacles can be avoided if you are persistent and take advantage of events and stakeholder meetings in the sector. Use these opportunities to inform about the project’s progress and to look for cooperation with potential partners. Buying in will take place but might require some time. In the case of Brazil, a committee of experts was eventually created and now continues to assess the project’s progress as well as to contribute to the further development and dissemination of the approach.

In the c&c pilot in Tanzania, individual interviews were conducted with the most relevant stakeholders based on a semi-structured questionnaire. After analyzing the answers, an additional workshop with the stakeholders was held in order to discuss the outcomes and potential adaptation options.

You will need to be flexible with your approach and acknowledge that different stakeholders will engage in different ways.

Practical Guidance

Objectives

To learn about how various stakeholders perceive climate change impacts at the local level and what their ideas are for confronting them.
To include knowledge from local experts as valuable input in the assessment of climate change challenges.

Expected outputs

A summary of climate change impacts and challenges for coffee production, and a list of suitable options for adaptation.

Required time

Dependent on whether you carry out individual interviews or a meeting.

Materials

Flip chart and one role of flip chart paper, different colored markers (approximately 20 in total), small paper cards, masking tape and nametags.

a group of people are sitting at tables in a room watching a presentation . — Figure 35: Stakeholder meeting in Trifinio

Guiding questions for stakeholder interviews or meeting:

Have you noted any changes in your local climate (temperature and rainfall patterns) over the last 20-30 years? If so, please describe.
Have there been extreme weather events in the past? What kind of events and how often?
How have these changes affected local coffee production?
How do farmers perceive climate change and its impacts on their coffee farms? Have there been any changes in production cycles?
What do these changes mean for smallholder coffee farmers? What are the consequences for coffee production?
Have there been any changes in farming practices, potentially due to changing climatic conditions?
Who is most affected by climate variability (men, women, boys or girls) and how are they affected?
What are the expected impacts of climate change on this region?
What is your recommendation for adapting to these changes?
Is there any interest in learning more about these challenges and the options for responding to them?

Procedure

Make a stakeholder mapping: Identify local experts, such as coffee farmers or staff from coffee extension services or coffee traders, who have in-depth knowledge of regional and/ or site-specific coffee production systems. Identify prominent challenges, as well.
Carry out individual interviews and/or a more formal stakeholder meeting (for half a day or a whole day) with coffee stakeholders in the region.
If you plan a stakeholder meeting, give participants a brief introduction to the c&c approach and the challenges of climate change.
You can also create small working groups within the meeting to answer questions (see guiding questions for stakeholder interviews or meetings below), or collect answers by brainstorming (e.g. each participant writes down the answer to each question on separate cards).
Discuss the answers with the entire group and have participants reach a consensus on the main challenges.

Learning from experience

Expert meeting in Trifinio for problem identification

A diagnostic meeting was held with eight technicians from PROTCAFES (Proyecto Trinacional Café Especial Sostenible) to discuss how climate change may be affecting coffee production.

The technicians were first asked whether they believed climate change had already been affecting coffee production and all eight agreed. They were then asked to rate, according to their experience, how severely a range of climate variables were affecting coffee production, both directly and indirectly, and to order their responses in terms of impact level (very low, low, medium, high and very high impact).

In terms of specific climatic events, storms, irregular rain and high temperatures turned out to be the most important. However, drought and high winds were also identified as having a high impact on production.

In terms of specific effects on coffee, disease was rated as the most concerning, with all respondents rating it as high or very high. When asked to rate the seriousness of pests and diseases, rust caused the most concern, followed by leaf spot (Ojo de Gallo, Mycena citricolor) and Cercospora coffeicola. The only insect to be identified as a medium to high concern was Coffee Berry Borer (CBB).

a bar graph showing the number of different types of insects . — Figure 36: Importance of pests and diseases rated by extensionists in the Trifinio region