Ecosystem services in coffee agroforestry: their potential to improve labour efficiency amongst smallholder coffee producers

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential labour efficiencies and socio-cultural benefits of agroforestry for coffee smallholders practising low input production strategies. Employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, our case study of coffee smallholders in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, shows that despite managing very small holdings of coffee trees (< 500 trees), productivity is challenged by labour shortages and by very low levels of farm inputs. Constraints on labour supply include barriers to mobilising women’s labour; competition for labour from alternative livelihoods; the absence of a market in hired labour; and the time, labour and income demands of the indigenous socio-economy. The indigenous social economy draws heavily on smallholders’ time, labour and coffee income, to the extent that there is little labour for coffee garden maintenance and little coffee income invested in other farm inputs. To address these input shortfalls we explore the potential of ecosystem services from shade-grown coffee to generate labour efficiencies to partly fill some of the unmet maintenance requirements of coffee gardens and to partly fill the role of other farm inputs. Coffee extension must become more holistic and consider smallholder families’ diverse livelihoods and recognise the enduring nature of the low input production strategy, its socio-cultural value, its role in determining life quality, and thus its resistance to change. Extension must align with, rather than challenge, the low input production strategy to promote the potential labour efficiencies and benefits of agroforestry to create more resilient, sustainable and culturally-enriching coffee-based farming systems.

On the complexity of agroforestry systems

“…Next to the ecological benefits, it is crucial for farmers to know how increasing complexity impacts labour demand (Kansanga et al, 2020). It has been shown that for some agroforestry farmers keeping labour demand moderate is even more important than maximising productivity (Fujisawa et al, 2020;Scudder et al, 2022;Tilden et al, 2023) and in the future, labour availability is projected to be a major constraint for farmers (Ryan, 2023). It is often postulated that adopting more complex agroforestry systems increases labour demand (Brodt et al, 2019;Esche et al, 2022;Scudder et al, 2022;Smith et al, 2022), but labour inputs required to perform specific activities, such as weeding, might also decrease (Armengot et al, 2016).…”

“…A majority of the sampled multistrata agroforestry systems required relatively low labour inputs, particularly for activities such as harvesting and weeding. All managers of agroforestry systems with lower labour demand than monoculture references stated the explicit objective to keep labour demand moderate to low, which is a common strategy amongst many agroforestry farmers around the world, even if it is associated with low productivity (Adimassu et al, 2015;Fujisawa et al, 2020;Scudder et al, 2022;Tilden et al, 2023). From a profitability point of view, this can be beneficial as labour costs are often the largest expense and incremental productivity gains in response to increased labour inputs do not always pay off (Davidova et al, 2022;Esche et al, 2022;Scudder et al, 2022).…”