Coffee production in southern Saudi Arabian highlands: Current status and water conservation

Abstract

Work aimed at assessing status and introducing water conservation regimes for coffee production in southern Saudi Arabian highlands. Data on farm locations, altitudes, areas, practices, irrigation, tree density, and annual coffee production were analyzed. Field experiment using chlorophyll fluorescence and different irrigation regimes was conducted to examine effects of reducing irrigation frequency on photosynthesis. Results indicated that Coffea arabica L. is commonly grown at altitudes of 1300–1400 m. Plants grown at 4–6 Trees m−2 using 100 kg ha−1 mineral fertilizer produce an average of 3 t ha−1. High frequency 2-day-intervals irrigation regime practiced by farmers during the dry season presents ecological challenge to limited local artesian water resources. Changes in chlorophyll fluorescence under 14-day-intervals irrigation regime initiated water stress that markedly inhibited Photosystem II efficiency and quantum yield and increased non-photochemical energy dissipation. Applying a 7-day-intervals irrigation regime induced less inhibitory effects on Photosystem II. Results also indicated that shifting from 2-day-intervals irrigation regime to 7-day-intervals regime improves coffee agroecology and directs coffee production towards sustainability.

Mapping groundwater abstractions from irrigated agriculture: big data, inverse modeling and a satellite-model fusion approach

“…However, even in those regions, the annual rainfall rarely exceeds 300 mm, and occur within a relatively well-defined period of the year. For example, coffee production is an important economic activity in Jizan, occurring mainly in high altitudes within the Fifa mountains, and farmers there regularly require groundwater as an additional source to meet the water needs of coffee trees, especially during extended periods of drought (Al-Abdulkader et al, 2018;Sayed et al, 2019). In other regions, the contribution of rainfall might be proportionally higher and thus need to be removed before obtaining the irrigated amount.…”

Mapping groundwater abstractions from irrigated agriculture: big data, inverse modeling, and a satellite–model fusion approach

“…However, even in those regions, the annual rainfall rarely exceeds 300 mm and occurs within a relatively well-defined period of the year. For example, coffee production is an important economic activity in Jizan, occurring mainly at high altitudes within the Fifa mountains, and farmers there regularly require groundwater as an additional source to meet the water needs of coffee trees, especially during extended periods of drought (Al-Abdulkader et al, 2018;Sayed et al, 2019). In other regions, the contribution of rainfall might be proportionally higher and thus need to be removed before obtaining the irrigated amount.…”

“…This has represented a much more challenging task, as in situ data on these systems are often non-existent and not easily inferred through remote mea- surement, at least at the scales at which local and regional management needs to be performed. In many regions of the world, existing or historical groundwater monitoring networks help to inform regional groundwater depletion trends (Shamsudduha et al, 2012;Scanlon et al, 2012;Zhou et al, 2013) and offer insights into related environmental impacts (Lee and Song, 2007;Erban et al, 2014). Satellite-based gravimetry measurements from GRACE have informed on water storage depletion trends around the world (Rodell et al, 2018), with particular benefit to data scarce regions where the quantification of aquifer depletion would not otherwise be possible (Lezzaik and Milewski, 2018).…”

Fermentador inteligente con tecnología de fermentación controlada para estandarizar procesos de fermentación de cafés de especialidad

“…Dentro del campo agrícola el café es uno de los cultivos de mayor importancia y ha demostrado tener peso socioeconómico a lo largo de la historia (Al-Abdulkader et al, 2018). Asimismo, en muchos países es un producto de alto consumo y grandes extensiones de plantación (Sayed et al, 2019). Su consumo llega a tener una tasa de crecimiento media anual del 3,5% que va en aumento (Magalhães Júnior et al, 2021).…”