coffee growing and coffee tree

Posts Tagged ‘coffee plant’

This section studies the influence of the environment on the coffee plant, in particular the characteristics of  natural factors such as climate and soil and their influence on development. Their effects determine the siting of indigenous species and the economic life of the plants, in other words their potential for profitable production and, by same token, the distribution of the crops throughout the world.

This final stage in the life of the coffee plant can be identified by a grandual degeneration of the shoot system, and a serious fall in production, accompanied by the death of the root system. This usually takes place at a fairly advanced stage in the life of the plantation, depending on the way in which it is run and the care taken in its maintenance.
In commercial production, it is estimated that a coffee plant  is no longer viable after 25 to 30 year of intensive cultivation, when the production costs will no longer be sufficiently offset by the reduced size of the crop. However, with good tree management, coffee can still be economically viable at over 100 year of age.

On a family plantation, under shade, with lower production levels this poor production phase may be prolonged, especially in a fertile soil and in the absence of serious damage to plant health.

It is therefore necessary to make sure that, in coffee growing, biological longevity is not confused with economic longevity.Favourable environmental condition and proper maintenance are likely,to some extent,to narrow the gap between them.