1 of 3
Robusta gives off a perfumed jasmine-like smell of coffee flowers which fills the air. It is far more intense than arabica fields because it depends on the transmission of pollen for reproduction.(Photo credit: Andrew Hetzel.)
2 of 3
Coffee is essential to Uganda which has 1.7 million smallholder coffee growers. (Photo credit: Andrew Hetzel.)
3 of 3
The robusta species is cross-pollinating and depends on bees, the wind, or other passers-by for assistance. (Photo credit: Andrew Hetzel.)
Uganda produces a staggering 282,000 tons of coffee per year. That makes this landlocked country in East Africa the eighth largest coffee-producing nation in the world. But as rosy as it sounds, it hasn’t always been a smooth ride.
In the late 1990s, Ugandan coffee farmers produced between 2.8-3.4 million bags of coffee. They had big plans to expand output to 5 million. Despite a program encouraging farmers to plant more and expand production, output remained the same.
Experts were puzzled. Despite buying more land and planting more coffee, farmers saw their average yield stay the same—in some cases, it even fell. Coffee in Uganda struggled with coffee wilt disease but that wasn’t enough to explain the results.
Curious farmers and government officials turned to science for the answers, and what they came up with might just surprise you: bees.
A study by Patrice Kasanganki of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) showed that a combination of rising human population and deforestation had devastated the bee population. That explains why coffee yield was stagnating in recent years despite government investment. So NARO began to advise coffee farmers to start beekeeping. And after only a short amount of time, farmers began to see impressive results.
“A few years ago, I was a miserable coffee farmer who did not earn much from my coffee plantation,” said Alex Masba, a Ugandan coffee farmer. “To boost my coffee output, I introduced bees to my plantation.”
Case and point: one farmer’s 20-acre plantation used to produce 6,800kg of dry coffee per year. And after he started beekeeping, the yield increased to 9,000kg. And not only did the yield increased, but some farmers even reported a sweeter taste in their coffee.
The sweet smell of success
Coffee is one of the most important export crops in Uganda. It represents 19% of the country’s exports. To say that it’s the lifeline of Uganda is no exaggeration—1.7 million families farm it on small plots of land.
STiR Coffee and Tea sat down with Andrew Hetzel, a coffee expert who worked extensively in Uganda from 2012-2016 to talk about the bees’ role in the coffee industry. According to Hetzel, bees are uniquely useful in Uganda for one reason—the vast majority of the country’s crop is robusta.
“Unlike arabica, which is self-fertilizing, robusta is crosspollinating and depends on bees, the wind, or other passers-by for assistance,” said Hetzel. He went on to explain how robusta gives off a “perfumed jasmine-like smell and the smell of coffee flowers fills the air, far more intense than arabica fields, because it depends on the transmission of pollen for reproduction.”
And because most of the coffee farms in Uganda are smallholder, using bees to pollinate their robusta crop, “increases the marginal utility of each plant, as it is relied upon by a greater number of individuals.” He’s not wrong—coffee farms average half of a farming family’s income in Uganda, so better pollination can really make a difference.
“I added 100 hives to my 30-acre coffee plantation,” said Edward Nanyole, a Ugandan coffee farmer. “Apart from boosting my coffee production, I also earn from the honey. [The bees] help me get more coffee and I also make money from selling the honey they make.”
Uganda: a pollination nation
The success of bees in helping Ugandan farmers maximize their crop was mainly due to the nature of the country’s dominant bean—robusta. Countries that use arabica beans instead have unique advantages and disadvantages.
“Arabica coffee is self-fertilizing, so it does not require external pollinators to reproduce— that’s convenient but it’s also the reason arabica suffers from the dangers of such a narrow gene pool. Every child is essentially the carbon copy of its parent, making the global crop highly susceptible to the same pests and diseases.”
STiR asked Sophie Short, a resident coffee expert at Coffee Affection to elaborate. She explained to us that robusta is a cross-pollination plant (or self-pollinating), meaning each child has two parents. And over a period of time, she told us, “Robusta evolves through a process of natural selection into highly localized gene pools with unique traits. Bees and the wind [mainly] facilitate that process. Since reproduction is the most important function of any species, robusta has gotten good at it.”
BEElieve in sustainability
Is the way Ugandan farmers combined beekeeping with coffee a happy coincidence, or is it a sign of changes in the way farmers approach their harvest? Sophie told STiR that it bodes well as a sign of sustainable agriculture.
“They are contributing to sustainable agriculture by supporting the much-needed bee population,” said Short, adding that it bodes well as a sign of sustainable agriculture. “The use of herbicides and pesticides dramatically decreased the bee population. It’s not uncommon to see coffee producers using biodiverse farming techniques to improve their crops and pad their income.”
And just as beekeeping helped Ugandan farmers get the most out of their coffee, it seems like the relationship isn’t just one-sided. A study by Dr. Sarah Arnold of the University of Greenwich showed that bees also get a buzz from caffeine and become more effective pollinators as a result.
“Honeybees are a very important component of the ecosystem, providing services and highly valuable products to people especially during the dry season,” said Patrice Kasanganki, a NARO researcher.
What does the future hold for the coffee industry in Uganda? Yields and income are on the rise, but the life of a coffee farmer isn’t an easy one. Farmers in the highlands of Uganda battle with poor soil. Climate change makes the weather even more unpredictable, and roads can be cut at any moment, separating farmers from their crops.
But farmers in Uganda are up for the challenge. The scent of jasmine lingers over the robusta plants once more. And in this small corner of East Africa, the coffee fields are alive with the buzz of bees and farmers going about their work, together.
Comments (1)
Comment FeedTypo
sal more than 1 year ago