Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. According to a report on world coffee development in 2020 by the International Coffee Organization, over the past thirty-plus years, stimulated by continuously growing demand for coffee, world coffee production increased by 60%, but this has posed many threats to the environment, while severe climate change and the environment are also fighting back.

Data from a report by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) shows that from August 2020 to July 2021 alone, Brazil's forest area shrank by 13,235 square kilometers.

Brazilian media reported that the damage caused by three frost disasters in July has already begun to show. Some coffee trees managed to flower after abundant rainfall, and it was estimated that the whole world breathed a sigh of relief at the time. But it was too early to celebrate, as the coffee flowers did not turn into coffee cherries, but fell off directly.

On the other side of the Atlantic, local media Nile Post News in Kampala, Uganda, reported that Ugandan government authorities confirmed three kinds of coffee diseases and pests affecting coffee plants and coffee berries.

Over the past few months, Uganda's Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has received reports from different farmers across the country. In these reports, farmers said the coffee trees they planted were gradually drying up. These reports initially came from the Tooro, Buganda (Mubende), Busoga, Bugisu and Sebei regions.

Fred Bwino Kyakulaga, Minister of State for Agriculture in Uganda, said in an interview that in response to this incident, the government immediately took action and formed a research team to complete on-site inspections and assessments of the phenomenon described in the reports.

According to the conclusions reached by the research team, in the Sebei region where Arabica coffee is grown, coffee berry disease (CBD) and coffee leaf rust (CLR) are severe; while in the Iganga and Namutumba regions where Robusta coffee is grown, the main cause of this coffee disease is coffee black twig borer (BCTB). If coffee farmers do not manage their farms according to the established guidelines, they will lose up to 50% of their yield.

This is not good news for Ugandan coffee farmers. In 2021, global shipping was strained, yet Uganda's coffee bean exports still hit their highest level in 30 years.

Now, Brazil has not yet conducted a count of coffee trees that flowered but bore no fruit, and it is unclear whether this is an isolated incident or a widespread phenomenon. Uganda, Africa's second-largest coffee producer, has also been hit by coffee pests and diseases, and next year's global coffee production is cause for concern.