Dr Fenet Belay

Ethiopia | Coffee is one of the most valuable agricultural commodities globally, providing livelihoods for over 25 million smallholder farmers and contributing significantly to the national economies of the Global South. Ethiopia, recognised as the birthplace of coffee Arabica, holds a unique position in the global coffee sector due to its vast genetic diversity and cultural heritage tied to coffee cultivation. Coffee farming in Ethiopia is predominantly rain-fed and smallholder-based, making it highly vulnerable to climate change and variability. Climate change poses a growing threat, affecting yields, quality, and the socioeconomic resilience of farming communities. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events are expected to decrease the suitability of areas for coffee production. 

Projections indicate that by 2050, up to 50% of suitable growing areas could become nonviable due to heat and drought stress. These biophysical changes in Ethiopia’s key coffee zones pose a threat to productivity, coffee bean quality, market competitiveness, and farmer income. Emerging evidence shows that climate stress influences coffee’s biochemical and sensory characteristics (acidity, aroma, caffeine content), yet research in Ethiopia rarely integrates such physiological and biochemical analysis with climate modelling. Furthermore, leveraging the country’s rich coffee gene pool to identify drought-tolerant traits through molecular markers remains underexplored. This represents a missed opportunity to enhance breeding efforts for climate-smart coffee varieties. In addition to these agronomic and ecological challenges, climate change interacts with entrenched gender disparities. Women play essential roles in coffee systems, particularly in harvesting, processing, and household-level food security, yet they often face barriers in accessing land, finance, training, and climate information.

Studies from Central America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia show that women’s adaptive capacities are constrained by limited agency in decision-making, labour division, and socio-cultural norms. Despite growing recognition of the gendered impacts of climate change, most Ethiopian coffee-related research addresses climate, quality, and gender in silos. There is a pressing need for integrated, context-specific evidence that incorporates localised climate projections, drought-resistant coffee varieties under climatic stress, and gender-differentiated vulnerabilities and adaptive strategies. Keffa Zone, widely recognised as the centre of origin for Arabica coffee, remains critically important to Ethiopia’s coffee sector and the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers who rely on it. However, the region is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures, altered rainfall patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events. These changes pose significant threats to coffee yields, quality, and the long-term sustainability of production systems. Despite growing recognition of these risks, a lack of localised climate modelling tailored to Keffa Zone’s diverse coffee-producing landscapes hampers efforts to anticipate future climate scenarios and implement effective adaptation strategies.

Current knowledge on gender specific vulnerabilities and adaptation strategies is fragmented, limiting the design of equitable interventions. Although some sustainable practices, such as agroforestry and soil conservation, are practised, their effectiveness under projected climate scenarios is not sufficiently assessed, creating a further obstacle to developing resilient coffee systems. Addressing these interconnected gaps through integrated climate projections, identifying drought-resistant Arabica coffee cultivars, and conducting gender-responsive analysis is essential to inform the development of drought-resistant Arabica coffee varieties and the socioeconomic well-being of Keffa’s coffee-growing communities in the face of climate change.

Dr Belay’s research will fill a critical knowledge and policy gap by pursuing a trans-disciplinary research approach. Specifically, this study will project future climate scenarios in Ethiopia’s major coffee-producing regions, characterise genetic traits associated with drought tolerance in Coffee Arabica, and assess how climate-induced changes affect male and female coffee producers differently, including their respective capacities to adapt. She will be combining climate science, gender analysis, and laboratory-based physiological and biochemical analyses. By bridging the social and natural sciences, the study will provide a robust and inclusive pathway to future-proofing Ethiopia’s coffee sector, ensuring that the benefits of adaptation are shared equitably.

Dr Fenet Belay is a lecturer in the Department of Rural Development, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University, Ethiopia. She holds a PhD in Natural Resource Management and Climate Change from Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, with part of her doctoral research at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom. She also holds a Master’s in Environment and Development (Development Studies) from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Her areas of specialisation include climate change adaptation, climate change vulnerability assessment, Climate-Resilient Agriculture and Inclusive Development, food security, gender-responsive development, sustainable agriculture, and natural resource management. Her current research focuses on advancing Climate-Smart Coffee Production Systems in Ethiopia by integrating climate modelling, molecular breeding, and gender-responsive adaptation strategies to build resilience in Arabica coffee farming. Dr Belay has published several research articles in internationally peer-reviewed journals and serves as a reviewer for leading publishers, including Elsevier. She is a recipient of the RSIF Junior Investigator Research Award (RSIF–JIRA) and the UNESCO Award for Outstanding Research under the Ethiopian Women in Science initiative.