By adopting these climate-smart practices NCBA CLUSA and our partners will help coffee farmers in Puerto Rico increase their revenue from climate-smart coffee sales from approximately USD$14 million to USD$50 million by the end of the project. Beyond the quantifiable benefits to farmers’ bottom lines, the diversification of crops grown in Multi-story Perennial Cropping Systems will increase resilience for smallholder Puerto Rican coffee farmers, their families and their communities. Given that Puerto Ricans rely on imports for more than 85 percent of their food supply, farmers’ ability to expand into citrus, plantains, bananas, cacao and other crops for local and home consumption has significant economic and food security benefits.

Project Objectives

The overarching goal of this project is to build markets for climate-smart commodities by providing voluntary incentives to producers and landowners, including early adopters, to implement climate-smart agricultural production practices (i.e. shade-grown coffee), activities and systems; measure, monitor, and verify the carbon and greenhouse gas benefits associated with those practices; and develop markets and promote the resulting climate-smart commodities.

Additionally, NCBA CLUSA anticipates that farmers participating in this pilot project will realize the following economic benefits from the production of climate-smart commodities:

INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY

Coffee farmers can expect a 15 percent increase in productivity across the project’s targeted 10,000 acres.

REDUCED COSTS

More efficient use of inputs and water, along with better land management and improved soil health, will reduce production costs by 15 percent.

INCREASED REVENUE

Adopting climate-smart practices will help coffee farmers in Puerto Rico increase their coffee sales’ revenue from USD$14 million to USD$50 million over the life of the project.

INCREASED RESILIENCE

Farmers’ ability to diversify crops for local and home consumption has significant economic and food security benefits.