Useful Plant Diversity in Coffee Shade Canopies
Farmers (especially smallholders) have long managed coffee shade canopies to
diversify production, cope with unexpected family needs and pest outbreaks,
buffer themselves against persistent low coffee prices, and reduce both weed
competition and the need for expensive inorganic fertilizers. A rich literature
is available on the design and management of useful plants in coffee shade
canopies (e.g., from India, Kenya, and Central and South America). For
instance, species valued only for shade represent 54 percent of all stems in the
shade canopy in Costa Rica but less than 12 percent in El Salvador and
Nicaragua. Bananas are very important in Nicaragua (50–57 percent of all
stems) but not so in El Salvador (where they represent only 5 percent of
all stems); timber production is equally important in all Central American
countries, whereas firewood is of no relevance in some areas of Costa Rica
(Table 9.3). Firewood is the most commonly mentioned reason for planting
Ingaspp. as shade in Salvadorian coffee plantations (Lawrence and Zuñiga
1996), and timber trees are perceived as a savings account that can be used
when coffee prices are low or when unexpected family needs arise.
Products from the shade canopy may be important sources of income to
small coffee holders. For example, in Peru and Guatemala products from the
shade canopy may account for 28 percent and 19 percent, respectively, of
the total value emerging from the coffee plantation (R. Rice, unpublished
data, 2002). Firewood for family use (52 percent) and fruit sold (19 percent)
or consumed by the family (15 percent) accounted for much of the total value
obtained from the coffee plantations; firewood for sale (8 percent) and lum-
ber for family use (5 percent) or sale (1 percent) are less important. Most of
the fruit production is lost (53 percent), 28 percent is sold, and 19 percent is
consumed by the family (R. Rice, unpublished data, 2002). These figures may
- Biodiversity Conservation in Neotropical Coffee Plantations 209
Table 9.3. Relative abundance (stems per use group in percent of the
total number of stems at a site) in percentage and number of useful plant
species (in parentheses) in the shade canopy of Central American coffee
plantations.
Carazo, Estelí, Santa Ana, Turrialba,
UseNicaragua Nicaragua El Salvador Costa Rica
Only shade 4 (12) 11 (21) 6 (18) 54 (1)
Citrusspp. 10 (2) <1 (1) 3 (2) 1 (4)
Minor fruits 5 (15) 2 (6) 12 (13) 10 (8)
Firewood 13 (6) 17 (14) 56 (14) 0 (0)
Timber 14 (19) 9 (16) 16 (29) 15 (3)
Musaspp. 50 (1) 57 (4) 5 (1) 18 (2)
Other usesa 4 (3) 4 (1) 2 (2) 2 (1)
Source:E. Somarriba, unpublished data, 2002.
aPosts, ornamental, or medicinal.