Spatial Identification of Coffee-Based Agroforestry Potential in Meghalaya for Community Livelihoods and Sustainable Development
Keywords:
Coffee agroforestry, Community livelihoods, Multi-criteria decision analysis, Spatial suitability, Sustainable DevelopmentAbstract
Background: A coffee-based agroforestry system is one such practice that has been recognized as a significant tool for facilitating sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and climate-resilient land management practices in the tropics. Despite its potential, there have been very few assessments to map out the spatial zones of suitability for Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (Robusta) cultivation in Meghalaya that have diverse agroclimatic zones suited for plantations.
Aims: The current research focused on identifying and mapping spatial zones for the cultivation of Arabica coffee and Robusta coffee under coffee-based agroforestry systems in Meghalaya through geospatial modelling approaches.
Methods: Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) has been carried out in Google Earth Engine using parameters like elevation, temperature, precipitation, slope, aspect, and soil pH. Weighted overlay has been done for both types of coffee, viz., Arabica and Robusta.
Results: Arabica coffee suitability was found to be concentrated mostly in the high-elevation zones of East Jaintia Hills, West Jaintia Hills, Ri Bhoi, and East Khasi Hills. Robusta coffee had wider spatial distribution, with suitability being found for warmer and low-elevation areas, including the Garo Hills region. Blocks like Saipung, Thaadlaskein, Khliehriat, Laskein, Umsning, and Umling were highly suitable for coffee agroforestry development.
Conclusions: It is evident from the research that there is considerable potential for developing coffee-based agroforestry practices in Meghalaya to facilitate sustainable rural livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and climate-resilient agricultural practices.
References
Akafu, T., Korecha, D., Garedew, W., & Amare, A. (2025). Modeling the current land suitability and future dynamics for coffee (Coffea arabica L.) cultivation under climate change scenarios in Western Ethiopia with MaxEnt model. Earth Systems and Environment, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-025-00689-w
Altieri, M. A., & Nicholls, C. I. (2017). The adaptation and mitigation potential of traditional agriculture in a changing climate. Climatic Change, 140(1), 33–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0909-y
Bacelar, E., Pinto, T., Anjos, R., Morais, M. C., Oliveira, I., Vilela, A., & Cosme, F. (2024). Impacts of climate change and mitigation strategies for some abiotic and biotic constraints influencing fruit growth and quality. Plants, 13(14), 1942. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13141942
Behera, M. D., Behera, S. K., Barik, S. K., Mohapatra, M., & Mohapatra, T. (2025). Inter- linkage among climate, terrestrial and marine systems: Sustainable development perspectives. In M. D. Behera, S. K. Behera, S. K. Barik, M. Mohapatra, & T. Mohapatra (Eds.), Sustainable development perspectives in earth observation (pp. 1–6). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-14072-3.00024-1
Bunn, C., Läderach, P., Ovalle Rivera, O., & Kirschke, D. (2015). A bitter cup: Climate change profile of global production of Arabica and Robusta coffee. Climatic Change, 129(1), 89–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1306-x
Chausson, A., Turner, B., Seddon, D., Chabaneix, N., Girardin, C. A. J., Kapos, V., Key, I., Roe, D., Smith, A., Woroniecki, S., & Seddon, N. (2020). Mapping the effectiveness of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation. Global Change Biology, 26(11), 6134–6155. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15310
Cohen-Shacham, E., Walters, G., Janzen, C., & Maginnis, S. (Eds.). (2016). Nature-based solutions to address global societal challenges. IUCN. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH.2016.13.en
Dagar, J. C., Singh, A. K., & Arunachalam, A. (Eds.). (2014). Agroforestry systems in India: Livelihood security & ecosystem services (Vol. 10). Springer India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1662-9
DaMatta, F. M., & Ramalho, J. D. C. (2006). Impacts of drought and temperature stress on coffee physiology and production: A review. Brazilian Journal of Plant Physiology, 18(1), 55–81. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1677-04202006000100006
Davis, A. P., Gole, T. W., Baena, S., & Moat, J. (2012). The impact of climate change on indigenous Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica): Predicting future trends and identifying priorities. PLOS ONE, 7(11), e47981. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047981
De, U. K. (2011). Livelihood pattern, dependence on forest and causes of degradation in Meghalaya (SSRN Scholarly Paper). SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1810440
Dong, L. (2021). Toward resilient agriculture value chains: Challenges and opportunities. Production and Operations Management, 30(3), 666–675. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13308
Dwivedi, S. K., Chandra, N., Mishra, A. P., Bahuguna, S., Srivastava, A., Arya, D., Singh, G., Đurin, B., Kranjčić, N., & Singh, R. (2025). Assessing the role of Alnus nepalensis D. Don in stabilizing landslide and its potential distribution: A case study from Uttarakhand, Western Himalaya. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 21(1), 105–116. https://doi.org/10.1093/inteam/vjae002
Erni, C. (2009, August 27–29). Shifting the blame: Southeast Asia’s indigenous peoples and shifting cultivation in the age of climate change [Paper presentation]. Seminar on Adivasi/ST Communities in India: Development and Change, Delhi, India.
Erni, C. (Ed.). (2015). Shifting cultivation, livelihood and food security: New and old challenges for indigenous peoples in Asia. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, & Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4580e.pdf
Farr, T. G., Rosen, P. A., Caro, E., Crippen, R., Duren, R., Hensley, S., Kobrick, M., Paller, M., Rodriguez, E., Roth, L., Seal, D., Shaffer, S., Shimada, J., Umland, J., Werner, M., Oskin, M., Burbank, D., & Alsdorf, D. (2007). The shuttle radar topography mission. Reviews of Geophysics, 45(2), RG2004. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005RG000183
Fekadu, A., & Andarege, B. (2025). GIS and parametric based coffee site suitability zonation in North Shewa zone of Oromia region, central Ethiopia. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 26, 100674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indic.2025.100674
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (1976). A framework for land evaluation (FAO Soils Bulletin No. 32). FAO.
Funk, C., Peterson, P., Landsfeld, M., Pedreros, D., Verdin, J., Shukla, S., Husak, G., Rowland, J., Harrison, L., Hoell, A., & Michaelsen, J. (2015). The climate hazards infrared precipitation with stations—A new environmental record for monitoring extremes. Scientific Data, 2(1), 150066. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2015.66
Getachew, M., Tolassa, K., De Frenne, P., Verheyen, K., Tack, A. J. M., Hylander, K., Ayalew, B., & Boeckx, P. (2022). The relationship between elevation, soil temperatures, soil chemical characteristics, and green coffee bean quality and biochemistry in southwest Ethiopia. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 42(4), 61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-022-00801-8
Gogoi, B. (2015). Soil productivity management and socio-economic development through agroforestry in north-east India. Asian Journal of Science and Technology, 6, 2048–2053.
Gold, M. A., & Garrett, H. E. (2021). Agroforestry nomenclature, concepts and practices. In H. E. Garrett, S. Jose, & M. A. Gold (Eds.), North American agroforestry (3rd ed., pp. 27–41). American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780891183785.ch2
Government of India. (2014). National Agroforestry Policy 2014. Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture.
Gorelick, N., Hancher, M., Dixon, M., Ilyushchenko, S., Thau, D., & Moore, R. (2017). Google Earth Engine: Planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone. Remote Sensing of Environment, 202, 18–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.06.031
Hameed, A., Hussain, S. A., & Suleria, H. A. R. (2020). “Coffee bean-related” agroecological factors affecting the coffee. In J.-M. Mérillon & K. G. Ramawat (Eds.), Co-evolution of secondary metabolites (pp. 641–705). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96397-6_21
Hengl, T., Mendes de Jesus, J., Heuvelink, G. B. M., Ruiperez Gonzalez, M., Kilibarda, M., Blagotić, A., Shangguan, W., Wright, M. N., Geng, X., Bauer-Marschallinger, B., Guevara, M. A., Vargas, R., MacMillan, R. A., Batjes, N. H., Leenaars, J. G. B., Ribeiro, E., Wheeler, I., Mantel, S., & Kempen, B. (2017). SoilGrids250m: Global gridded soil information based on machine learning. PLOS ONE, 12(2), e0169748. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169748
Hijmans, R. J., Cameron, S. E., Parra, J. L., Jones, P. G., & Jarvis, A. (2005). Very high- resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology, 25(15), 1965–1978. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1276
India Today NE. (2025, August 14). Meghalaya targets doubling coffee production as specialty crop gains momentum. https://www.indiatodayne.in/meghalaya/story/meghalaya- targets-doubling-coffee-production-as-specialty-crop-gains-momentum-1261193-2025-08-14
Jha, S., Bacon, C. M., Philpott, S. M., Méndez, V. E., Läderach, P., & Rice, R. A. (2014). Shade coffee: Update on a disappearing refuge for biodiversity. BioScience, 64(5), 416–428. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biu038
Jose, S. (2009). Agroforestry for ecosystem services and environmental benefits: An overview. Agroforestry Systems, 76(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-009-9229-7
Kath, J., Byrareddy, V. M., Craparo, A., Nguyen-Huy, T., Mushtaq, S., Cao, L., & Bossolasco, L. (2020). Not so robust: Robusta coffee production is highly sensitive to temperature. Global Change Biology, 26(6), 3677–3688. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15097
Liere, H., Jackson, D., & Vandermeer, J. (2012). Ecological complexity in a coffee agroecosystem: Spatial heterogeneity, population persistence and biological control. PLOS ONE, 7(9), e45508. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045508
Majaw, I. (2025). From bean to brew: Cultural, environmental, and economic benefits of coffee cultivation in Meghalaya and its impact on indigenous livelihoods [Research report]. Chief Minister’s Research Grant, Government of Meghalaya. https://cmrgmeghalaya.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/From-Bean-to-Brew-4th- revision-1.pdf
Malczewski, J. (2006). GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis: A survey of the literature. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 20(7), 703–726. https://doi.org/10.1080/13658810600661508
Meghalaya Basin Development Authority. (2023). Smoky Falls Tribe coffee: Taking Meghalaya’s indigenous coffee to the world. Government of Meghalaya. https://be.dev.mbda.mbma.org.in/smoky-falls-tribe-coffee-taking- meghalaya%E2%80%99s-high quality-indigenous-coffee-world
Meghalaya Monitor. (2025, May 16). Govt explores coffee and cocoa plantations. https://meghalayamonitor.com/govt-explores-coffee-and-cocoa-plantations/
Muñoz-Sabater, J., Dutra, E., Agustí-Panareda, A., Albergel, C., Arduini, G., Balsamo, G., Boussetta, S., Choulga, M., Harrigan, S., Hersbach, H., Martens, B., Miralles, D. G., Piles, M., Rodríguez-Fernández, N. J., Zsoter, E., Buontempo, C., & Thépaut, J.-N. (2021). ERA5-Land: A state-of-the-art global reanalysis dataset for land applications. Earth System Science Data, 13(9), 4349–4383. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4349-2021
Mylliemngap, W. (2021). Agrobiodiversity and natural resource management in traditional agricultural systems of Northeast India. Agrobiodiversity & Agroecology, 1(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.33002/aa010101
Nagashree, M. K., Trivedi, S., Mukharib, D. S., Hebbar, R., Srivastav, S. K., & Chauhan, P. (2025). Earth observation-based mapping and site-suitability analysis of coffee agro- ecosystem in the face of climate change. In M. D. Behera, S. K. Behera, S. K. Barik, M. Mohapatra, & T. Mohapatra (Eds.), Sustainable development perspectives in earth observation (pp. 269–285). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-14072-3.00011-3
Nasiro, K. (2024). The benefits of agroforestry coffee production systems: A review. World Journal of Food Science and Technology, 8(4), 86–105. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjfst.20240804.13
NER Databank. (n.d.). Coffee plantation. North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://databank.nedfi.com/ne-agriculture/coffee- plantation
North Eastern Spatial Data Repository. (n.d.). NESDR portal. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://www.nesdr.gov.in/
Plieninger, T., Muñoz-Rojas, J., Buck, L. E., & Scherr, S. J. (2020). Agroforestry for sustainable landscape management. Sustainability Science, 15(5), 1255–1266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00836-4
Pretty, J. (2018). Intensification for redesigned and sustainable agricultural systems. Science, 362(6417), eaav0294. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav0294
Priori, S., Pellegrini, S., Vignozzi, N., & Costantini, E. A. C. (2020). Soil physical-hydrological degradation in the root-zone of tree crops: Problems and solutions. Agronomy, 11(1), 68. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11010068
Raj, A., Jhariya, M. K., Banerjee, A., Jha, R. K., & Singh, K. P. (Eds.). (2024). Agroforestry. John Wiley & Sons.
Reed, J., Van Vianen, J., Foli, S., Clendenning, J., Yang, K., MacDonald, M., Petrokofsky, G., Padoch, C., & Sunderland, T. (2017). Trees for life: The ecosystem service contribution of trees to food production and livelihoods in the tropics. Forest Policy and Economics, 84, 62–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.01.012
Saaty, T. L. (2008). Decision making with the analytic hierarchy process. International Journal of Services Sciences, 1(1), 83-98. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSSCI.2008.017590
Sahoo, G., Swamy, S. L., Wani, A. M., & Mishra, A. (2022). Agroforestry systems for carbon sequestration and food security: Implications for climate change mitigation. In P. K. Shit, P. P. Adhikary, G. S. Bhunia, & D. Sengupta (Eds.), Soil health and environmental sustainability: Application of geospatial technology (pp. 503–528). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09270-1_22
Sarma, K. K. (2026). North East Himalayan ecosystem: Issues, challenges and need for technology interventions. In S. P. Aggarwal, S. S. Kundu, & B. K. Handique (Eds.), Remote sensing of the North Eastern Himalayan ecosystem (pp. 1–20). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-3221-6_1
Sati, V. P. (2014). Towards sustainable livelihoods and ecosystems in mountain regions. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03533-8
Seddon, N., Chausson, A., Berry, P., Girardin, C. A. J., Smith, A., & Turner, B. (2020). Understanding the value and limits of nature-based solutions to climate change and other global challenges. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 375(1794), 20190120. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0120
Sharma, N. (2023). Potential coffee production hot-spots using machine learning techniques: Nagaland and Manipur, India [Master’s thesis, National College of Ireland]. NORMA Institutional Repository. https://norma.ncirl.ie/6661/
Survey of India. (n.d.). Digital products. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://onlinemaps.surveyofindia.gov.in/Digital_Product_Show.aspx
Tazebew, E., Tiruneh, F., & Anbes, Y. (2025). Ecological and socio-economic contributions of coffee-based agroforestry systems in Ethiopia: A systematic review. Science Research, 13(6), 148–158. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sr.20251306.11
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1). United Nations General Assembly.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Arun Pratap Mishra, Ankit Rawat, Shiv NarayanYadav
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright to their work and grant the journal the right of first publication and distribution. All articles published in the Journal of Sustainability and Community Engagement are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
This license permits others to use, share, adapt, distribute, and reproduce the published work in any medium or format, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and the source, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated. Any derivative works must be distributed under the same license (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Authors are allowed to deposit the final published version of their articles in institutional or other repositories and to share their work for academic and non-commercial purposes, provided that proper citation of the original publication in the journal is included.
The Journal of Sustainability and Community Engagement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
