As warming climate hammers coffee crops, this rare bean may someday be
your brew
[March 03, 2025] By
SAM MEDNICK
NZARA COUNTY, South Sudan (AP) — Catherine Bashiama runs her fingers
along the branches of the coffee tree she's raised from a seedling,
searching anxiously for its first fruit buds since she planted it three
years ago. When she grasps the small cherries, Bashiama beams.
The farmer had never grown coffee in her village in western South Sudan,
but now hopes a rare, climate-resistant species will help pull her
family from poverty. “I want to send my children to school so they can
be the future generation,” said Bashiama, a mother of 12.
Discovered more than a century ago in South Sudan, excelsa coffee is
exciting cash-strapped locals and drawing interest from the
international community amid a global coffee crisis caused mainly by
climate change. As leading coffee-producing countries struggle to grow
crops in drier, less reliable weather, prices have soared to the highest
in decades and the industry is scrambling for solutions.
Experts say estimates from drought-stricken Brazil, the world’s top
coffee grower, are that this year’s harvest could be down by some 12%.
“What history shows us is that sometimes the world doesn’t give you a
choice, and right now there are many coffee farmers suffering from
climate change that are facing this predicament,” said Aaron Davis, head
of coffee research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London.
Excelsa could play a key role in adapting.
Native to South Sudan and a handful of other African countries,
including Congo, Central African Republic and Uganda, excelsa is also
farmed in India, Indonesia and Vietnam. The tree's deep roots, thick
leathery leaves and big trunk allow it to thrive in extreme conditions
such as drought and heat where other coffees cannot. It’s also resistant
to many common coffee pests and diseases.
Yet it comprises less than 1% of the global market, well behind the
arabica and robusta species that are the most consumed coffees in the
world. Experts say excelsa will have to be shown to be practical at a
much larger scale to bridge the gap in the market caused by climate
change.
Coffee's history in South Sudan
Unlike neighboring Ethiopia or Uganda, oil-rich South Sudan has never
been known as a coffee-producing nation.
Its British colonizers grew robusta and arabica, but much of that
stopped during decades of conflict that forced people from their homes
and made it hard to farm. Coffee trees require regular care such as
pruning and weeding and take at least three years to yield fruit.
During a visit earlier this month to Nzara County in Western Equatoria
state — regarded as the country's breadbasket — residents reminisced to
Associated Press reporters about their parents and grandparents growing
coffee, yet much of the younger generation hadn't done it themselves.
Many were familiar with excelsa, but didn’t realize how unique it was,
or what it was called, referring to it as the big tree, typically taller
than the arabica and robusta species that are usually pruned to be bush-
or hedge-like. The excelsa trees can reach 15 meters (about 49 feet) in
height, but may also be pruned much shorter for ease of harvesting.
Coffee made from excelsa tastes sweet — unlike robusta — with notes of
chocolate, dark fruits and hazelnut. It’s more similar to arabica, but
generally less bitter and may have less body.
“There’s so little known about this coffee, that we feel at the
forefront to trying to unravel it and we’re learning every day,” said
Ian Paterson, managing director of Equatoria Teak, a sustainable
agro-forestry company that’s been operating in the country for more than
a decade.
The company's been doing trials on excelsa for years. Initial results
are promising, with the trees able to withstand heat much better than
other species, the company said. It's also working with communities to
revive the coffee industry and scale up production. Three years ago it
gave seedlings and training to about 1,500 farmers, including Bashiama,
to help them grow the coffee. The farmers can sell back to the company
for processing and export.
[to top of second column] |
A worker tends to excelsa seedlings inside a greenhouse near Nzara,
South Sudan on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
 Many of the trees started producing
for the first time this year, and Paterson said he hopes to export
the first batch of some 7 tons to specialty shops in Europe. By
2027, the coffee could inject some $2 million into the economy, with
big buyers such as Nespresso expressing interest. But production
needs to triple for it to be worthwhile for large buyers to invest,
he said.
Challenges of growing an industry amid South
Sudan's instability
That could be challenging in South Sudan, where lack of
infrastructure and insecurity make it hard to get the coffee out.
One truck of 30 tons of coffee has to travel some
1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) to reach the port in Kenya to be
shipped. The cost for the first leg of that trip, through Uganda, is
more than $7,500, which is up to five times the cost in neighboring
countries.
It’s also hard to attract investors.
Despite a peace deal in 2018 that ended a five-year civil war,
pockets of fighting persist. Tensions in Western Equatoria are
especially high after the president removed the governor in
February, sparking anger among his supporters. When AP reporters
visited Nzara, the main road to town was cut off one day because of
gunshots and people were fleeing their villages, fearful of further
violence.
The government says companies can operate safely, but warned them to
focus on business.
“If I’m a businessman, dealing with my business, let me not mix with
politics. Once you start mixing your business with politics,
definitely you will end up in chaos,” said Alison Barnaba, the
state's minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment.
Barnaba said there are plans to rehabilitate old coffee plantations
and build an agriculture school, but details are murky, including
where the money will come from. South Sudan hasn’t paid its civil
servants in more than a year, and a rupture of a crucial oil
pipeline through neighboring Sudan has tanked oil revenue.
Growing the coffee isn't always easy, either. Farmers have to
contend with fires that spread quickly in the dry season and
decimate their crops. Hunters use fires to scare and kill animals
and residents use it to clear land for cultivation. But the fires
can get out of control and there are few measures in place to hold
people accountable, say residents.
Coffee as a way out of poverty
Still, for locals, the coffee represents a chance at a better
future.
Bashiama said she started planting coffee after her husband was
injured and unable to help cultivate enough of the maize and ground
nuts that the family had lived on. Since his accident she hasn't
been able to send her children to school or buy enough food, she
said.
Another farmer, 37-year-old Taban John, wants to use his coffee
earnings to buy a bicycle so he can more easily sell his other
crops, ground nuts and cassava, and other goods in town. He also
wants to be able to afford school uniforms for his children.
Excelsa is an opportunity for the community to become more
financially independent, say community leaders. People rely on the
government or foreign aid, but when that doesn't come through
they're not able to take care of their families, they say.
But for coffee to thrive in South Sudan, locals say there needs to
be a long-term mentality, and that requires stability.
Elia Box lost half of his coffee crop to fire in early February. He
plans to replace it, but was dispirited at the work it will require
and the lack of law and order to hold people accountable.
“People aren't thinking long-term like coffee crops, during war,” he
said. “Coffee needs peace."
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