Shaded Coffee Landscapes in the Western Ghats: A Triple Benefit for Carbon Credits, Climate Resilience, and Soil Quality

Shaded coffee systems represent a promising strategy for maintaining healthier, carbon-rich soil ecosystems, while also offering opportunities for carbon credit generation for farmers, particularly in the Global South. This study evaluated the effects of five coffee-based land-use systems—forest coffee (CF), shaded coffee with high (CTS), medium (CMS), and low (CTnS) tree densities, and sole coffee (CS)—on soil quality, carbon storage, biomass accumulation, and carbon credit potential in the Western Ghats coffee-growing region. CF exhibited the highest soil quality index (SQI) and soil organic carbon (SOC), exceeding CS by 33.5% and 65.5%, respectively, followed by CTS, CMS, and CTnS (CTS: +13.8% SQI, + 43.1% SOC; CMS: +8.5% SQI, + 19.1% SOC; CTnS: +3.0% SQI, + 12.9% SOC). Shaded coffee systems significantly improve soil chemical and exchangeable properties. Across shaded systems, soil carbon sequestration (0.34–1.03 t C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and aboveground biomass carbon accumulation (1.8–15.1 t C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) supported substantial carbon credit potential, ranging from USD 55.41 to 340.90 ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Overall, shaded coffee systems provide both ecological and economic benefits, contributing to climate change mitigation while enhancing rural livelihoods through carbon financing.