every single day the world drinks 2.25
billion cups of coffee but supplies of
the most popular drug on the planet are
far from secure scientists say half of
the world's coffee could be gone by 2050
wiped out in part by a disease spreading
rapidly in a warming climate Ariel duam
Ross went to verac Cruz Mexico to find
out more about an epidemic affecting
coffee production around the
world Guadalupe Avendano runs a small
farm where she has been growing coffee
for more than 20 years but for the last
year things haven't been going so well
last year Guadalupe lost most of her
crop to a fungus known as coffee leaf
rust which kills plants by depriving
them of nutrients in 2014 rust destroyed
up to 70% of harvests in Mexico and
Central
America oh and that one has a
lot so there's coffee rest all under
here is this plant going to die te yeah
te coffee leaf rust is nothing new it's
been a problem for coffee Growers around
the world for centuries one of the worst
outbreaks was in 1869 in the British
colony of salon now Sri
Lanka the spread of the fungus was so
bad that it forced the colony to abandon
coffee and grow tea one of the reasons
why the British drink so much tea today
more recently un predictable rainy
seasons caused by climate change have
made it a lot easier for the fungus to
spread and that's even affected Farmers
with comparatively more means like Jorge
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Mueller Jorge is a sixth generation
farmer who's been growing coffee since
he was a child he produces about a 100
times more coffee than Guadalupe but
because of the rust he's had to change
his methods right down to the varieties
he grows it's very sweet should I try it
yes okay
just that is very sweet it's good
yep and these are these the types of
plants that they're susceptible to rust
but the coffee is very good the coffee
is
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outstanding worldwide there are two main
coffee plant varieties araba and Robusta
araba is difficult to grow but it's also
considered high quality and commands the
highest price Robusta is easier to grow
but lower in quality and less lucrative
since araba plants are more susceptible
to Coffee rust Farmers all over Mexico
and Central America like Jorge and
Guadalupe are switching to
Robusta essentially farmers are facing a
catch 22 to survive they have to switch
to inferior coffee varieties that are
worth
less Professor Carlos Guama is an
agricultural scientist who works closely
with coffee producers in the area if I
it's a disaster yeah the
production in 3 years from
100% 50% last year 30 to 10% most of the
farmers are changing the whole system
which is a huge change but what we are
witnessing is a huge transformation of
the coffee farming Mexico Central
America rust isn't the only challenge
coffee faces so just switch ing from
Arabica to Robusta won't solve the
problem because climate change is making
some places wetter and others drier even
the bitter tasting Robusta will suffer
from unpredictable weather this means
that as yields decline drinking a
morning Latt is going to get more
expensive and for Farmers like Guadalupe
coffee will become an even more
precarious way to make a
living foree