Can this rare grain be the solution to the global coffee crisis?

Excelsa grain originates from South Sudan and other African countries, including Congo and Uganda. With a characteristic sweet aroma, it can conform the growing coffee scarcity on the market. But coffee needs peace …

Coffee Excelsa is enthusiastic about South Sudan’s inhabitants, mostly affected by poverty, and attracting the interest of the international community in the middle of one – whose prices have recorded historical increases in recent years.

As the main coffee producing countries strive to cultivate harvests with a drier and less reliable climateThe industry strives to find solutions to contrary prices-which recently reached the values.

According to experts cited by, the production estimates in Brazil, the largest coffee producer in the world, but much affected by drought, point to a Break of about 12% in this year’s harvest.

“What history shows us is that sometimes The world does not give us choice And at this time, there are many coffee producers that suffer from climate change and that they are facing this difficult situation, ”he said Aaron DavisCoffee Research Director at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London.

It is at this point that the Excelsa coffee (Coffea Liberica Var. Dewevrei), member of the liberal family, can play a key role in the inversion of the path that is leading the coffee to disappear-or become A luxury product.

Southern Sudan And from a number of other African countries, including Congo, the Central African Republic and Uganda, this variety is also cultivated in India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The deep roots of the tree, the thick and leather leaves and the large trunk allow you to prosper in extreme conditionslike drought and heat, where other cafes can’t. With a single aroma, Excelsa is also resistant to many of the pests and diseases common coffee.

However, represents less than 1% of the global marketfar behind the species arabic e robustawhich are the most consumed coffees in the world.

Could this variety grminating growing scarcity of coffee beans in the market? For this, the experts say, It would have to be possible to scale your production.

Coffee in Suddão do Sul

Unlike Ethiopia or Uganda neighbors, South Sudan, rich in oil, has never been known as a coffee -producing country.

British colonizers cultivated robusta e arabicbut much of this production stopped for decades of conflictwhich forced people to abandon their homes and made agriculture difficult. Coffee makers require regular care, such as pruning and Monda, and It takes at least three years to bear fruit.

During a recent report from the Nzara region, considered the country’s barn, the inhabitants recalled that their parents and grandparents cultivated coffee, but much of the younger generation had never done it.

Many were familiar with Excelsa, but they did not realize their uniqueness or their name, referring to it as “the large tree“, Typically higher than species arabic e robustawhich are usually pruned to become shrubs or hedges.

The trees of Excelsa can reach 15 meters Height, but can also be pruned much shorter to facilitate harvesting.

Coffee produced from Excelsa It has a sweet flavorunlike the robusta, with touches of chocolate, black fruits and hazelnut. Is more similar to arabicbut usually less bitter and can have less body.

“It is known so little about this coffee that we feel at the forefront of the attempt to unravel it and we are learning every day,” explains Ian PatersonDirector General of, sustainable agroforestry company that has been operating in the country for over a decade.

The company is doing EXCELSA TESTS FOR YEARS. The initial results are promising, with the trees capable of supporting the heat much better than other species, the company said.

The company is also to revive the coffee industry and increase production. Three years ago, the company has been training about 1,500 farmers to help them cultivate coffee – who can then sell to Ecuadoria Teak for transformation and export.

Many of the trees started producing for the first time this year, and Paterson expects to briefly export the first batch, about seven tons. for specialty stores in Europe.

By 2027, coffee will be able to inject about $ 2 million into the South Sudan economy, and Great buyers like Nespresso have already expressed interest in the Sudanese variety. But Production is required to triple so that it is worth the big buyers to invest.

And that, explains Paterson, can be a challenge in South Sudan, where the lack of infrastructure and insecurity They make it difficult to flow from coffee.

A truck with 30 tons of coffee has travel about 3,000 km To get to the nearest port in Kenya and be sent. The cost of the first part of this trip through Uganda, is greater than 7,500 dollarswhich represents until five times the cost in neighboring countries.

It is difficult to attract investors

Despite a peace agreement, celebrated in 2018, put an end to a civil war that plagued the country for five years, Fighting outbreaks persistand tensions in the region have recently increased, after the President dismissed the local governor, causing the anger of his supporters.

The government says companies can operate safely, but warned them to focus on business.

The Sudanese Minister of Agriculture, Alison Barnabasays there are plans for Rehabilitate old plantations of coffee and build a school of agriculture, but the Details are obscureincluding the provenance of money.

In addition, South Sudan does not pay your civil servants more than a year ago and the break of a crucial pipeline that crosses the neighboring Sudan made sink oil recipes.

Coffee culture also It’s not always easy. Farmers often have face the fires rapidly propagating In the dry season and decimate their harvests.

Os Hunters use fires to scare and kill animals And residents use us to clean land for cultivation. But fires can be out of control and there are few measures to hold people responsible, residents say.

For the communities of Sudanese farmers, Café Excelsa represents the hope in a better futurethe opportunity to achieve financial independence because they depend on government or foreign aid to subsist – and when it is not enough, they are unable to take care of the family.

So that the production of Excelsa can prosper in the region, the farmers say, it takes a long -term mindset – and stability.

In February, a farmer heard by AP lost half of his coffee harvest due to a fire. Plans to replace it, but is discouraged with work that will have and with the LACK OF LAW AND ORDER to hold people responsible.

“During a war, people don’t think in the long run, like coffee crops,” says the farmer. “Coffee needs peace.”