I want to use Farmer Training

1. Coffee Field Establishments and its Management
October, 2023
Hawassa, Ethiopia
Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority
Coffee Agronomy Training
Presented by:- Leta Ajema (Msc)

2. Presentation outline
Introduction
Coffee Field Establishments
Coffee Tree Managements
2

3. 1. Growth and Development
Three main phases in the life span of coffee
1. Growth phase:- Seed germination until the plant is fully grown (start bearing potential crop), 4
to 7 years
2. Productive phase:- the longest (covers 8 to 15 years), potential cropping period
3. Exhaustion phase:- (physiological decline): a point where decrease in production below
profitability or economic threshold level starts, ends with death of the plants
Three main phases in the life span of coffee
Growth phase:- Seed germination until the plant is fully grown (start bearing potential crop), 4 to 7 years
Productive phase:- the longest (covers 8 to 15 years), potential cropping period
Exhaustion phase:- (physiological decline): a point where decrease in production below profitability or
economic threshold level starts, ends with death of the plants

4. 2. Coffee production systems in Ethiopia
Production system Contrib-ution
(%)
Growth condition Source of planting materials Management level
Forest/wild coffee 8-10 Irregular & unregulated Volunteer seedlings Almost No management (2-
5qt/ha)
Semi-forest coffee
(semi-cultivated)
30-35 Less regulated Volunteer & nursery grown
seedlings
Minimum input
Garden coffee 40-50 Relatively better Nursery grown seedlings Well managed (6-9qt/ha)
Modern plantation 5 Well regulated Nursery grown seedlings of
improved varieties
Improved management
practices (9-10qt/ha)
*Contribution of each system to the total annual coffee production of the country

5. Agro-ecological based Coffee Variety Identification
SN Variety
Yield (kg/ha)
Canopy nature
Suitable Agro ecology
Research site Farmers Field Temperature FR (mm) Altitude
1 741 12.2 6.0-7.0 Open 11.0-28.0 >1400 ከመካከለኛ-ከፍተኛ
2 744 16.6 8.0- 9.0 Open 11.0-28.0 >1400 ከመካከለኛ-ከፍተኛ
3 7440 16.2 8.0-9.0 Intermediate 11.0-30.0 >1400 ዝቅተኛ ፣ከመካከለኛ -ከፍተኛ
4 7454 18.3 8.0-9.0 Intermediate 11.0-30.0 >1400 ዝቅተኛ፣ ከመካከለኛ- ከፍተኛ
5 7487 23.8 9.0-10.0 Intermediate 11.0-28.0 >1400 ከመካከለኛ- ከፍተኛ
6 74110 19.1 9.0-10.0 Compact 11.0-28.0 >1400 ከመካከለኛ- ከፍተኛ
7 74112 18.1 9.0-10.0 Compact 11.0-28.0 >1400 ከመካከለኛ- ከፍተኛ
8 74140 19.7 9.0-10.0 Compact 11.0-28.0 >1400 ከመካከለኛ- ከፍተኛ
9 85257 21 --- Open 11--30 1400--1800 1550--2100
10 971 19.5 --- Open 11--30 1400--1800 1550--2100
11 974 20 --- Open 11--30 1400--1800 1550--1750
12 1377 21---24 11--17 Open 9--28 1400--1800 1550--1750

6. 2. Pre-planting Management of Arabica Coffee
Selection of Mother Trees for Seed Purpose
 Healthy Matured Trees
 With Vigorous Growth & Desirable Agronomic Performance
Free of Diseases and Insect pests
High yield & sustainable production
Adaptable to the Planting site/the Agro-ecology
High cup quality

8. 1. Field Planting
1.1 Site selection
For optimum production:
The site for coffee planting should be gently sloping (3 – 8%),
 Well drained and free from noxious weed
 The soil should be fertile and deep
 Moderate shade (Grass hat, Temporary shade and permanent)

9. 1.2 Site clearing
• Bushes, shrubs and vegetation other than those known shade trees should be cleared
• Those dead plants (trees) & plant parts should be removed or burned at the spot
• The site should be free of noxious & perennial weeds

10. 1.3 Land preparation
The land should be well labeled and ploughed
Holes should be dug during the dry season based on the predetermined spacing:
Type of variety to be planted (Compact, intermediate, and open)
Planting system to be applied (intercropping or not)
Training/pruning method to be applied (single stem, multple stem)
Hole size depends on moisture availability in the area, but the conventional practice is 60 x 60 cm. (at low RF area it should be 80*80)
After a month or two, planting holes should be refilled at least a month before planting

11. Hole size
60 cm x 60 cm –areas with ample and moderately ample moisture
 80 cm x 80 cm –areas with moisture deficit is found to be suitable


12. 1.3. ተከላ ቦታ ዝግጂት:

13.  Top soil and sub soil should be mixed
 Proper refilling of the soil and the pore space /air and water/
 Compost should be mixed with the soil if not very fertile
Transplanting time:
 Based on long term weather data of the particular area,
April/May (Main Planting time)
July/August transplanting time resulted in better field survival at Southern Ethiopia.
1.4 Soil Refilling

14.  Coffee seedlings should be planted out in the field at the beginning
of the rainy season (April to early may at South Ethiopia)
 select ideal seedling /healthy, strong, leafy but not branched /
 The seedlings should be planted at the collar level or deeper,
The Root system should properly placed in the hole
 Seedlings should be provided with temporary shade
 Grass hut before the dry season
 Seedlings should have at least 6 pairs of leaves .
 Branched seedlings should not be used for better Survival rate
2. Planting Technique

16. ♦ Mulching before oct.
♦ Sucker control
♦ weed control /noxious /
3. Young coffee mgm’t

17. 4. Spacing and population density
Depends upon:
☛ Coffee variety (its canopy nature)
- Open
- Intermediate
- Compact
☛ Pruning and Training method (No. of bearing heads)
- Multiple stem
- Single stem
☛ Agro-ecological condition
- Hot, humid lowland
- Medium altitude
- Cool highland

18. 4.1 Spacing Requirement Vs Variety
Canopy classification Single stem Multiple stem
Open 1.8 – 2.0 2.0 – 2.5
Compact 1.6 – 1.8 1.8 – 2.2

19. 5. Post planting field management
• This involves:
Shade management
Soil and moisture conservation
Pruning and training
Soil fertilization
Pest management

20. 5.1 Soil and moisture conservation
• Soil & moisture conservation structures
☛ Ridging
☛ Banding
☛ Cover crop
☛ Mulching

21. For erosion control

22. Half moon, vetivar /run off

23. 5.2 Mulching
Advantage
Good control of the broad leaf weeds
Conserve soil moisture
Control erosion
Improve the nutrition status of the soil at the time of decomposition
 Can be good component of IWM

24. Provide little control on perennial weeds
Transportation difficult & costly
Good mulch materials
Undecomposed coffee husk
Vetivar grass
 leguminous
 maize and sorghum stalk
 any other available …..
Disadvantage

25. 5.3 Cover cropping
Advantage
Provide excellent control weeds (particularly perennials)by prohibiting sunlight
Covers the soil and protect from erosion and runoff
Contributes towards controlling CWD by minimizing the use of slashing in coffee fields
Some cover crops can have dual purpose such that they can be chopped and can serve as feed for livestock
 Can be good component of IWM

26. Legumes that are most successful cover crops in coffee plantations are,
Species that are excellent forage, and /or Pasture for Animal
Source of food for human
Green manuring for soil fertility enhancement
Fast grower and spread to provide complete soil cover between coffee trees (Giller, 2001)
Reduces the costs of production (Snapp et al., 2005),

27. COVER CROPS
A cover crop is defined as a close and fast growing crop that provides
Soil protection
Crop protection, and
 General Farm productivity improvement (SSSA, 2008),
Cover crops are planted to keep
Plant Nutrients from leaching,
Soil from eroding, and
Land from weeding over, during the rainy season,

28. Legume cover crops can be grown to facilitate the soil micro environments during the early dry season through,
Soil moisture conservation (Abayomi, et al., 2001),
Shade from cover crops and their mulching reduce water runoff
 Evaporation from the soil which effectively raises WUE
Cover crops can maintain soil moisture content from 46 to 72 %
Cover crops are also used to moderate the soil temperatures (muller 1997),

29. LCC is known as an effective source of biological nitrogen fixation,
Legumes play a vital role to form a symbiosis with soil rhizobium bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen
Rhizobium spp. are Gram-negative soil bacteria that boast agronomic advantage due to it’s ability to establish nitrogen-fixing symbiosis in
in nodules
To fix nitrogen, legumes need the symbiotic soil bacteria rhizobia in their root nodules.
Legumes without effective nodules will deplete soil N and can perform poorly.

30. Nitrogen fixation by legumes, play an important role in sustaining crop
productivity and soil reclamation of the semi-arid areas

31. Cover Crops can be grown to control the weed invasion
Cover crops are important weed suppressors,
Legumes can offer an effective method to weed control that increases the crop profitability,
Legumes which established good crop cover and biomass is more effective in weed control than
fast maturing legumes
Shade-tolerant cover crops such Desmodium are effective weed control for a long time
(Abayomi, et al., 2001),

32. Potential advantages of CC in Coffee plantation
Growing of under-story legumes has been widely practiced and found useful for coffee plantations (Giller, 2001),
The multipurpose advantage of intercropping coffee tree with food and forage crops,
At Coffee transplanting time and
During cycle change is well documented in the different literature like (Lemaire, 2015).

33. Legume intercrops are extensively used for soil fertility improvement through,
 N fixation,
 Organic matter accumulation (Gachene and Kimaru, 2003),
 For coffee intercropping, the legume should be effective in soil erosion control and soil fertility improvement
 Improvement in soil fertility translates to reduced fertilizer requirements,
 Coffee intercropping with grain legume is well known by increasing the land productivity of the same unit area at a time ,
 HOW?

34. The research conducted at South Ethiopia indicates, the highest over year mean clean coffee recorded for coffee intercropped with
soybean, and haricot bean
The highest and statistically significant (p<0.05) coffee yield variation was observed among the intercropping treatments, of coffee
with grain legume
Accordingly, the highest yield (2777 kg/ha) was obtained from coffee with soybean intercropped plot followed by coffee with
haricot bean intercropping with mean yield of 2243 kg/ha clean coffee yield
Component Crop Yields Coffee Yield kg/ha
Treatments 2005 2006 2007 2008 2006 2007 2008 OYM LER
Soybean + Coffee 1170 1000 1030 800 216 1600 2777 1531 1.66
Haricot bean + Coffee 1220 570 430 130 249 1720 2243 1404 1.5

35. The increased “ percent yield difference between sole and intercropped plots of
14.08 to 51.85% soybean with sole coffee and
24.24 to 49.08% haricot bean with sole coffee, was indicated
LER value of more than a unit was detected in almost all crop seasons.
Accordingly, the entire component crop recorded high LER with an average value of 1.5 (coffee with haricot
bean), 1.66 (coffee with soybean) at Awada (Taye et al., 2014).

36. Time of Application of Leguminous food and Cover Crop
Leguminous CC like (Soyabean, and Haricot bean), that are not shade lover should be used as the CC during the fist 3-4 years and/or
up to canopy closure,
Substantial yield decrease was noted in grain legumes crop components after the second coffee harvesting season,
On the other hands, CC like desmodeum can be used within the already established plantation

37. Cover crop management
Different management practices are necessary for different legumes because of their varying
growth habits.
CC like Desmodeum that have indeterminate growth habit have to be trimmed or trained to prevent them
from climbing on to the coffee bushes

39. Sowing Cover crops within the Raw of coffee plantation is another mitigation to
control the cover crop climbing on coffee plants

40. Since coffee occupies large size of potential farmland in coffee growing areas of the
country, available land for food and forage crops production is critically limited, thus
More intercropping or crop diversification is expected to occur in most coffee growing areas,
Increase in crop yield per unit area per unit time and
Reducing cost of production is a critical

41. Desmodium cover
Desmodium apart from suppressing perennial grasses and sedges
Keep crop to leaf ratio in balance
Coffee under desmodium does not exhaust quickly

42. Two Desmodium spp
2. Desmodium introtum (green leaf)
1. Desmodium uncinatum(silver leaf)

43. Desmodium uncinatum(silver leaf)

44.  The cover crop should be rapid in germination and growth
 Spray the field with systemic herbicide and avoid all the underground structures
 Broadcast the seeds after 15-20 days
 Apply one or two hand weeding until ground cover is obtained
How to establish cover crops?

45. 6. Shade management
Shade is important in coffee farms, because:
 Reduces the need for intensive management (severe pruning to regulate leaf: fruit ratio, fertilizer application, etc.)
 Ensures sustainable production with & less exhaustion of coffee trees
 Reduce physiological disorders caused by extreme changes in temperature and light intensity
 Reduction of soil erosion on steeper slopes
 Production of organic matter through litter falls
 Reduction in weed growth
 Reduction of the biennial bearing pattern
 Improvement in bean size & quality (increases volatile substances (alkaloids & aromatic compounds)

46. Shade and Light Requirements in coffee plants
 An increase in light intensity brings rise in photosynthesis but, the coffee plant requires 50% light
regime (Anon, 1996), which can be achieved by
Planting appropriate shade trees in the coffee plantation or
Planting coffee at high densities for mutual shading of plants (kumar, 1978)
Exposure to high solar radiation is an integral part of the stress physiology necessary for the
Breaking bud dormancy
Bud initiation and
Differentiation of bud (clowes and hill, 1981),
The number of flowers which would be developed and the amount of fruit set is directly related to the amount of
light incidence upon each part of the tree, that is the stimulation of flowers and fruits is maximal in full sunlight

47. ♦ Coffee needs permanent and temporary shade
♦ Temporary shade – Grass hat ,sesbania, tephrosia, pigeon pea
♦ Peramnent shade- Albizia, Accacia, Milletia, Erythrian indica

48. Sesbania, grass hat and mulch
Temporary shade

49. Shade type Spacing (mt)
Albizia-schemperiana,
Grandbracteta & gumefera
18 X 18
Accacia abysinica 20 X 20
Milletia ferruginea 10 X 10
Erythrina indica 12 X 12
Sesbania sesban 4 X 4
Pigeon pea 4 X 4
Tephrosia vogellii 4 X 4
Shade tree spacing

50. 12. Physiological Disorders
• There are some physiological disorders in coffee plants induced by different factors, such as
 Light intensity/shade
 Temperature fluctuations and/or generally
 Poor management and seasonal variability in climatic factors, mainly rainfall (moisture availability),
Leaf rolling,
Crinkle leaf and
Branch die-back
• are among the major physiological disorders affecting coffee production in most parts of Ethiopia

51. 12.1 Crinkle leaf

52. 12.2 Coffee branch die-back
 It is affected by Shade/light level
 Management practice/input
 Crop load (yield potential)
Shade level Mean branch die-back
Open sun 8.60
Moderate shade 4.12
Heavy shade 1.23

53. 12.3 Coffee leaf rolling/cupping/folding
Mainly induced by:
Moisture deficit stress
Hot and dry winds in dry spells
Leaf position Leaf rolling (%) Shade level Leaf rolling (%)
Top 59.23 Light 54-57
Middle 54.88 Moderate 52-53
Bottom 47.00 Heavy 50-51

55. Measures to overcome moisture deficit stress
• Use of tolerant varieties
• Effective supplementary irrigation scheme that promotes productivity & improves
water use efficiency of plants, e.g.
- normal deficit irrigation
- partial root zone drying (PRD)

56.  Thanks for your due attentions