A coffee farmer from Uganda has met Welsh farmers to discuss the impact of climate change.
Jenipher Sambazi is the face of the Welsh coffee brand Jenipher’s Coffi. She met Teleri Fielden, who farms in the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales.
“Climate change is a threat we live with on a daily basis,” said Jenipher.
Teleri, who also works as a Policy Officer for the Farmers’ Union of Wales, said:
“As two farmers from mountainous areas, despite producing very different products, we face many common challenges – and there’s a lot that we can learn from one another. Unpredictable incomes and changing weather, including new and more severe threats of pests are shared challenges for farmers from Wales to Uganda.”
Teleri and her husband Ned are tenant farmers producing “Biodiversity Beef and Lamb” from their stock of native cattle and sheep, which graze diverse pastures and landscapes to conserve and strengthen local biodiversity. They sell directly to customers through a subscription box scheme.
Jenipher, the vice-Chair of the Mt Elgon Agroforestry Communities Co-operative Enterprise (MEACCE) explained how the 3,000 Fairtrade and Organic farmers in her cooperative use techniques including agroforestry to grow specialty coffee, hand in hand with nature. Tree planting brings a multitude of benefits, including anchoring the soil, which, with increasingly heavy rains, gets washed away with crops, homes and, also, human lives.
Ffion Storer Jones, Jenipher’s Coffi Co-Founder who coordinated the exchange, said:
“Farming faces enormous pressures globally, but by standing together and acting boldly to support farmers, we can build a fairer future. A fair price changes everything – I know this from growing up in a farming family – and that’s why Jenipher’s Coffi always carries the Fairtrade mark”.
Emma Jones, one of the facilitators of Wales' Climate Farm Demo Project, a pan European network of pilot demo farmers, who joined the exchange added:
“It was very interesting, and devastating to learn from Jenipher about how vulnerable farmers in Uganda are to climate change. It highlighted how important it is to support farmers in the face of an increasingly hostile climate to adapt sustainable practices to ensure food security for all.”
