Reviving Robusta Coffee in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

by Kambale Kisumba Kamungele ( Café Africa RDC )

& Piet Stoffelen (Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium)

The DRC, the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, is endowed with significant arable land, favorable climate, abundant water resources and immense biodiversity. Its geographic location makes it ideal for the cultivation of coffee. Both species of coffee (Coffea arabica and C. canephora, respectively commercialized as Arabica and Robusta) are cultivated in the country. Within C. canephora, two genetic subgroups namely “Robusta” and “(Petit) Kwilu” are used for plantations and both are  available in the DRC.

The country used to be one of Africa’s big coffee producers in the 1980’s but declined to very low levels seen today due to political instability and other factors that had negative consequences on the industry. Historically, the big share of production was Robusta cultivated mainly in the lowlands of the Congo Basin, while Arabica was mainly produced in the mountainous regions of the East of the country. The latter witnessed last decades a growing interest.

Despite the increase of interventions in the Arabica sector that has contributed to the emergence of the Congo Kivu Specialty movement, the DRC Robusta potential is, although immense, still undervalued.  This potential, combined with a renewed interest in Robusta coffee worldwide, has driven efforts to revitalize the Robusta sector in the western part of the country. One of those initiatives was the Karawa Coffee Project (KCP), that was implemented by Café Africa RDC (CARDC) focusing on the sustainable development of Robusta production and marketing in the Karawa region, located in the Nord-Ubangi province.  This project was a collaborative effort of a US-based foundation, the Paul Carlson Partnership, the Covenant Church of Congo and CARDC. 

The main objectives pursued by the project were to revitalize Robusta production while improving the livelihood of smallholders through coffee marketing.  These objectives were attained by;

-       Rejuvenating existing trees

-       Establishing nurseries for the multiplication of new planting material

-       Training the producers in good agricultural practices

-       Organizing farmers into formalized associations.

Carrying out these activities over five years resulted in :

-       1,190,000 new coffee trees planted.

-       1,700 hectares of rejuvenated and new coffee area planted.

-       2’188 Producers organized into one cooperative (FUPROCAF – UBANGI).

Other efforts to rehabilitate the Petit Kwilu variety in the Kongo Central province are in progress. The ACP Business Friendly project implemented by the RDC National Coffee Board (ONAPAC) in partnership with the International Trade Center (ITC) and the Robusta Coffee Agency of Africa and Madagascar (ACRAM) is establishing nurseries for dissemination of new planting material to farmers in the Lukula area.  Café Africa RDC conducted, at the request of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF),  a study on the potential for the Petit Kwilu as an income-generating activity, while preserving the Mayombe forest and the  biodiversity of the Luki Biosphere Reserve landscape. These are few examples of existing programs aiming to revamp production in the Robusta sub-sector.

The ongoing success of these different projects support the argument that there is need and potential to increase the Robusta production in the DRC, given the traditional and now unmet demand for Congo Robusta by the Italian market and the overall increasing global demand for Robusta, amid increasingly volatile prices of Arabica.

It is also worth reminding that an enduring revival of coffee production must be complemented with research and development to make the coffee cultivation more profitable for the farmers, more resilient to climate change, and to increase the quality of the produced coffee. This can be achieved by adopting good agricultural practices, appropriate post-harvest treatment methods and by introducing and breeding better varieties.  Successful countries (e.g. Uganda, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Brazil, …) do have long term strategies and research programs to develop or adapt new varieties and practices to the local situation (e.g. climate, soil, agricultural practices, etc.). Therefore, genetic resources and research and development programs are crucial to the success of coffee cultivation and can enable adaptation not only to climate change but also to the permanently changing needs of the global coffee market. 

The DR Congo has a crucial role to play in research and development since it is considered the homeland of Robusta coffee. From the start of the Robusta coffee production in the very late 19th century the till the 1950’s Congolese genetic resources and INEAC-elite lines were distributed worldwide and were the base for the success of Robusta cultivation. Up to now they are the basis of the commercial coffee cultivation in most Robusta coffee countries, as recently heighted in genetic studies in Ivory Coast, Vietnam and Uganda.  Although the once famous research capacities and collections of genetic resources in Yangambi have almost completely disappeared, the forests, the old plantations and the backyards in the DRC still hold coffee genetic resources of world importance. These Congolese genetic resources are crucial for the future of the Robusta coffee production within the country and abroad. 

Even though these genetic resources are under pressure due to forest degradation, climate change and the introduction of genetic resources from abroad, the DRC National Agronomic Research Institute (INERA) and the Meise Botanic Garden (with financial support from the European Union and the Flemish and Belgian Governments) are working on rehabilitating the Robusta coffee gene core collections at the INERA Yangambi Station, in the Tshopo Province. The same project aims also to relaunch the research and the production of Robusta coffee in the Yangambi Landscape . The first results of the research are promising and are highlighting the interesting and uncommon organoleptic profiles in wild and cultivated genetic resources in this collection.

In conclusion, the revival of Robusta coffee production in the DRC is progressively emerging. Several local initiatives are in progress, but to be successful and durable, a value chain development strategy coupled with continued research and development programs are fundamental. This will create conditions for sustainable production and marketing, and bring quality and resilient material to the farmer who will be able to produce coffees with better organoleptic profiles resulting in benefits for all the stakeholders in the value chain.