As the global climate changes, farmers face the ever-growing challenge of adapting their practices to a changing environment. Rising temperatures and extreme weather events are making it harder for coffee farmers to grow and harvest their beans. This leads to decreased yields, reduced quality, and higher consumer prices.
Globally, almost all coffee sales are made up of only two species, Arabica at about 60% and Robusta at 40%. Arabica in particular, is very sensitive to moisture and temperature, which means that production over the last two years has not been able to meet demand. In the meantime, global consumption has gone up 2% a year.
Liberica Excelsa To The Rescue?
The coffee industry has been looking for neglected native species that are more weather and pest tolerant. Their best bet is now on liberica beans. Liberica originally cane from central and west Africa but commercial production currently is primarily in the Philippines.
There is, however a type that is a smaller bean and more flavorful, Liberica excelsa, native to the lowlands of Uganda. In the 1800s, it was briefly cultivated but then was overshadowed by its commercially successful cousins. Uganda is also the native home of robusta, which takes less time to grow and bear fruit.
Liberica beans are larger and more uniform than Arabica but are trickier to process. They have thick skin and pulp. The flavor has widely been considered to be inferior. The Liberica plants are much taller than robustas, up to eight meters tall. This makes tending and harvesting more resource intensive.
An Urgent Need
Aaron Davis, a coffee scientist from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, England, is concerned that a predicted increase in global temperature will continue to decrease yields.
“We need additional coffee crop species that are able to grow under altered conditions,” he says. “And what we’re seeing is that liberica coffee is more climate resilient than arabica.”
On the question of what happens if the coffee market doesn’t adapt, Dr Davis says soberly: “We’re going to have less coffee and prices will go up, but the real hit and the real jeopardy is for farmers.” **
The outcome of all this could be that the product in our coffee cups is transformed.*
Davis was reluctant to try Liberica at first. He thought it tasted like “vegetable soup” but after trying the excelsa version he thought “Actually, this is not bad”
Now Davis is teaming up with a colleague and encouraging farmers to refine their growing process and harvesting techniques to increase quality and consistency.
Better for Farmers
“Even if there’s too much heat, it does fine,” said Golooba John, a coffee farmer near the town of Zirobwe in central Uganda. For the past several years, as his robusta trees have succumbed to pests and disease, he has replaced them with Liberica trees. On his six acres Mr. John now has just 50 robustas, and 1,000 Libericas.
He drinks it, too. He says it’s more aromatic than robusta, “more tasteful.” **
Liberica excelsa has a lot of aroma but less caffeine than robusta. Chances are good; you’ll be tasting some in the not-too-distant future.
* BBC
** NY Times
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