Effects of Quality Coffee Production by Smallholders on Local Land Use and Land Cover in Yirgacheffe, Southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The objectives of the study are to identify LULC types that have undergone changes due to quality coffee production and assess smallholders’ perceptions of the LULC changes associated with their coffee production practices in Yirgacheffe coffee area, southern Ethiopia. The study used Landsat satellite images of 1988, 2003, and 2018 to examine the LULC change. In addition, household surveys and focus group discussions were carried out to assess land management practices in the study area. The findings show that forest coffee (FC) cover decreased at a rate of 1.02% per year in the 30-year time, which was mostly changed to semi-forest and semi-plantation coffee cover. The study area has also experienced an increase in semi-plantation cover (0.07% per year), semi-forest coffee (0.9% per year) over the study period, showing a gradual decrease in vegetation cover. This also suggests that a major driving force for the local LULC change is the increasing demand for coffee in the global and national market, as evident from the increasing trend of coffee export from Ethiopia. Survey data show that quality coffee production drives coffee agroforest conversion while it has potitive effects on land management practices by smallholders. Reducing the current heavy dependence of livelihoods on coffee as the single most important commodity is likely to enhance sustainability of the coffee agroforests in the area.