Traditional Shade Coffee Management System

Extensively managed traditional shade coffee harbored a diverse community of medium and large sized mammals as well as habitat quality that can serve as an important and the best agricultural corridor in the presence of the existing declining natural forest than the intensively managed plantation coffee system of the area. Mammals were found to benefit from the vegetation diversity, canopy and ground cover in traditional shade coffee farms. Increasing heterogeneity at larger spatial scales through avoidance of landscape level dominance of intensive plantation coffee systems may help to maintain the mammalian species richness and diversity by providing pockets of high quality habitat from which mammals can roost and forage.

Reducing logging, retaining lower strata vegetation, establishing buffer zones within farms as well as protection of the remaining nearby forest fragments, can enhance this. It is important to recognize that the traditional coffee forest management cannot fully replace primary native forest as a habitat for some mammals particularly for forest specialist species, like buffalo or large carnivores, but act as a best corridor for these kinds of species.

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Therefore, a balanced landscape mosaic of coffee and natural forest may be a valuable combination for species conservation and coffee cultivation. Since large-scale plantation coffee has failed to protect biodiversity effectively and negatively affects forest specialist groups. Therefore, supporting, certifying the traditional shade coffee management system and ensuring that coffee farmers receive a reasonable price for the commodity is an alternative approach that should be considered as the best conservation strategy for the habitat and mammal conservation.

The contribution of mosaics of leftover lands and wetlands that are found within coffee farming system needs to be assessed with respect to their roles for mammals as well as long term monitoring will be required to see the survival of the mammals in shade coffee system