The most favorable regions for cash crops among the most important in the world in terms of volumes such as coffee, cashew or even avocado could soon be redrawn due to climate change, underline research carried out by the University. of Applied Sciences from Zurich in Switzerland and whose conclusions were published last Wednesday in the journal Plos One. Of the three crops studied, it is coffee and cashew that are of most interest to West African countries. The originality of the study does not relate so much to coffee because it has been a long time since researchers indicated that the Arabica variety is threatened because it is grown at altitude, where it is cooler compared to the Robusta production areas. . On the other hand, to date, there were still no studies that demonstrated how climate change would concretely impact cashew crops on a global scale. The study focuses on Vietnam, India, Côte d'Ivoire and Benin, which represent 73% of world production. The conclusions of the study are major for the future organization of productions. Indeed, while an avocado tree currently takes about eight years to grow and bear fruit where it is usually grown, it may take up to 20 years in cooler, temperate climates. According to the different scenarios of climate change, the sustainability of coffee growing will decline very sharply between now and 2050. We can expect that regions currently producing Arabica will reorient themselves towards Robusta. Thus, West and Central Africa - among other regions - would see their production decrease to the benefit of East Africa, among others. cafe_arabica_etude.png With regard to the cashew tree, West Africa is one of the production areas that will be the most impacted. Thus, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso will be less and less adapted to this culture. “ In Côte d'Ivoire and Benin, a large proportion of areas highly suitable for cashew cultivation will become less suitable by 2050 due to increasing annual temperatures. In Côte d'Ivoire, the reduction would range from 16% to 32% depending on the scenarios and in Benin from 55% to almost 100% . » cajou_etude.png “ Areas suitable for the three productions could extend to higher altitudes and latitudes, especially for cashew and avocado trees. Thus, East Africa, the United States, Argentina and China would have a major card to play in the future production of these sectors ,†the authors further emphasize.