Biologists at Stanford have found that coffee growers in Costa Rica bolster bird biodiversity by leaving patches of their plantations as untouched rainforest. The latest research shows that birds are returning the favor by eating the “coffee berry borer beetle”, which is an aggressive coffee bean pest. The birds have helped increase coffee bean yields by hundreds of dollars per hectare. This is the first study to put a monetary value on the pest-control benefits that rainforest can provide to growers.
Daniel Karp, the lead author of this study says, “The benefits that we might get are huge. There’s lots of unrealized value in these small patches of rainforest. This looks like a sustainable, win-win opportunity for pest management.”
Some say that coffee is the world’s most profitable crop. Its harvest supports the livelihood of 100 million people globally. The coffee berry borer is threatening crops around the world. This insect burrows into the beans and eats its way out, thus ruining the beans. This pest problem started in Africa but has now made its way into nearly every coffee-producing country.
Karp went on to say, “It’s the only insect that competes with us for coffee beans. It’s the most damaging insect pest by far, causing some $500 million in damage per year. This work suggests that it might be economically advantageous to not farm in certain areas of a plantation.”
