The open access paper “Contribution of coffee plants to carbon sequestration in agroforestry systems of Southwestern Ethiopia“, published in The Journal of Agricultural Science, has been chosen as the latest Editorial Highlight and is freely available to download.

Coffee agroforestry are the most valuable land-use systems that provide multiple benefits such as biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, and source of income. The high carbon sequestration potential of the coffee agroforestry system is attributed to the availability of a diverse range of plant species. Coffea arabica – a species native to south-western part of Ethiopia is mainly grown in the forest or in farming systems that incorporate specific shade plants – usually indigenous trees, or sometimes fruit trees with high biomass components in the system.

The existing attitude on coffee plants diverges more towards its economic benefit. Little emphasis has been given to the role of coffee forests in sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change. Many studies conducted to estimate the carbon stocks of the coffee agroforestry systems did not show the contribution of coffee plants to the total carbon stocks in coffee forests. This means that the percent share of coffee plants in storing carbon within coffee agroforestry systems was less empathized. Therefore, the study aimed to quantify the carbon sequestration potential of coffee agroforestry systems and estimate the contribution of coffee plants to the overall carbon stock of coffee agroforestry systems.

The study found that carbon sequestration in the coffee agroforestry systems varied with coffee management system and the type of shade tree. The total carbon stock of coffee forests was greatest in the Albizia-shaded stratum (321.8t C/ha) followed by the mixed tree-shaded stratum (284.7 t C/ha) and the Syzygium-shaded stratum (254.9 t C/ha). This demonstrates that Albizia is the most compatible shade tree for coffee plants. The overall mean carbon sequestered in the coffee agroforestry systems was 287.1 tC/ha.

Coffee plants added considerable amount of carbon to the total carbon stock of the agroforestry systems. On average, coffee plants contributed 37.5 t C/ha, accounting for approximately 12.8% of the total carbon sequestered in the coffee agroforestry systems. As a result, we recommend coffee forests for all-in-one benefits such as climate change mitigation, sustainable landscape management, and income generation.

The Journal of Agricultural Science Editorial Highlights are selected by the Editor-in-Chief. View the recent selections here.