A More Climate-Resistant Coffee Rises in Africa
First the bad news. The two types of coffee that most of us drink — Arabica and robusta — are at grave risk in the era of climate change.
Now the good news. Farmers in one of Africa’s biggest coffee exporting countries are growing a whole other variety that better withstands the heat, drought and disease supersized by global warming.
For years, they’ve just been mixing it into bags of low-priced robusta. This year, they’re trying to sell it to the world under its own true name: Liberica excelsa.
“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.
Source: The New York Times
