Drought-Resistant Wild Robusta Discovered in Uganda - Major Breakthrough for Developing Drought-Tolerant Coffee Varieties

Recently, coffee variety researchers from Uganda, the Netherlands and France discovered previously unknown wild Robusta populations with potential drought resistance in Uganda's endangered forests. The find will help breed drought-resistant coffee varieties in the future and contribute to the development of the coffee industry. Because coffee is an important export for Uganda, the discovery also underlines the value of tropical rainforest, further discouraging illegal logging and giving the government an incentive to protect it.

The research spanned five years, from 2014-2019. The study, carried out by scholar Catherine Kiwuka during her doctoral work at Wageningen University, compared the drought tolerance of wild Robusta samples she collected with previously unknown coffee genotypes, revealing the drought resistance of certain populations.

Professor Niels Anten of Crop and Weed Ecology at Wageningen University said: "[Drought-resistant varieties] can be used in breeding programs and hybridized with existing varieties." Many coffee varieties today are bred for disease resistance, so by hybridizing the new wild Robusta Catherine found with existing varieties, it should be possible to develop coffees that are both disease-resistant and drought-tolerant.

The wild Robusta was discovered in the severely deforested Zoka Forest in northern Uganda. Because of excessive logging, Zoka Forest now covers only about 10 square kilometers. Professor Niels Anten said: "Current agricultural land is continuously threatening the existence of the forest."

Among the varieties Catherine Kiwuka studied, other samples from the southern region face extinction as they become increasingly genetically mixed with commonly cultivated varieties. This highlights the critical need for large forest areas to better protect the key genetic information held in wild coffee populations.

Making existing coffee varieties more drought-resistant will benefit millions of Ugandan coffee growers who lack the funds to install irrigation systems to cope with Uganda's dry conditions. Professor Niels Anten added that while drought-resistant crops may help improve the quality of life for Ugandan farmers, that is only part of the improvement. Alongside better drought resistance, growers need more education on cultivation techniques and agroforestry, and more opportunities to bring their coffee directly to market, reducing middleman margins and thereby raising income for all growers.

Although the international market generally regards Robusta as lower quality than Arabica, Ugandan Robusta is considered an exception. Robusta beans are the main source of agricultural income in Uganda. According to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) report published in December 2020, Ugandan Robusta exports accounted for more than 70% of the country's total coffee exports in 2020. The Ugandan government has previously announced that within the next 10 years, Uganda's coffee exports will increase by at least 20 million bags (60kg per bag) annually.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Stories like this one are a reminder of how much the future of coffee depends on genetics, and also of why so much of the specialty market still builds its identity around Arabica. If you want to taste what careful variety selection and processing can do, the FrontStreet Huakui is a good place to start: an Ethiopian heirloom from Sidamo, sun-dried in the traditional way, giving cream strawberry, mango, jackfruit, citrus and blueberry with the ripe tropical fruit character that earned it first place in that year's TOH green bean competition.

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