Is the hybrid between Arabica and Luodou fine coffee? what does the market think of hybrid coffee?

Changing weather patterns, pests, deforestation and rising temperatures are just some of the environmental factors that threaten global coffee production. It is estimated that by 2050, we may lose as much as 40% of our arable land to grow coffee, making today's coffee industry face unprecedented challenges.

One possible solution to these problems is to switch to new hybrids that provide flexibility without compromising quality. In the early 1990s, CIRAD began working with different partners such as CATIE,PROMECAFE and ECOM to select F1 hybrids in Arabica. This work has led to the selection and dissemination of a variety of high-performance hybrid varieties whose names have begun to be known, such as H1copyright CentroamericanoMagery H3Magol Starmaya and Cassiopeia. Since 2017, CIRAD has been coordinating project 1 of BREEDCAFS (breeding coffee for agroforestry systems) Horizo ​​ n 2020, funded by the European Union.

The goal of BREEDCAFS is to develop new breeding strategies to create coffee varieties that can cope with environmental pressures related to climate change and are more suitable for agroforestry conditions. The agroforestry system brings benefits to growers, but many traditional coffee varieties are not suitable for growing in the shade.

To understand how these varieties benefit coffee production, I talked to BREEDCAFS researchers in France, Denmark, Vietnam, Cameroon and Nicaragua to discuss the advantages and challenges these varieties offer and their possible role in the future coffee industry.

Why is there a mixed coffee variety?

According to CIRAD's Beno ú tBertrand, the farther the genetic distance between two coffee parents, the worse their offspring will taste. This is what scientists call a "hybrid". F1 hybrid varieties are the first generation of offspring produced by the hybridization of two genetically different parent plants. The hybrids will have the characteristics of both parents, including better cup quality and disease resistance, better adaptation to climate change and higher yields-enabling them to adapt well to today's changing environmental conditions.

The French research centre CIRAD helps countries cope with agricultural problems and launched BREEDCAFS in 2017 to create a variety of sustainably produced coffee varieties. These varieties can solve the problem of decline in yield and quality. According to Herv é Etienne, senior researcher and project coordinator at CIRAD, when Arabian coffee factories suffer, their quality is also affected.

Hybrid power increases productivity and resilience

Although coffee plants flourish when they grow in the shade, all-day planting is preferred because its yield is 40% higher than that of coffee plants grown in full shade. However, F1 hybrid varieties can grow and maintain high yield under agroforestry and sunny conditions. Elvis says that in his experience, the average yield of F1 hybrids is 40 per cent higher than that of conventional varieties grown in sunlight and agroforestry. The BREEDCAFS project aims to make use of this advantage of adapting to agroforestry conditions to select new shade hybrid varieties.

Compared with traditional varieties, hybridization is usually experienced after three years, so it is high-yielding from the second year of cultivation and can also increase productivity. This allows producers to increase their capacity and productivity in a shorter period of time. In addition, the study showed that F1 hybrid varieties were not easily affected by pressure environment and leaf rust.

Hybrid varieties produce high quality cup contours

Unfavorable growth conditions mean that many traditional Arabica varieties with obvious quality are unable to reach their full potential. However, the development of hybrids may provide a solution to this problem, which is why CIRAD researchers are developing hybrids with genes that make them highly resistant to stress, thus helping them produce higher-quality cups and adapt to harsh environments.

The quality potential of these F1 has won many awards in past Excellence Cup competitions. The WCR agrees and points out that F1 hybrids have very good cup quality or special-praise is usually reserved for exotic varieties such as geisha coffee.

What is the current performance of F1 varieties?

Although the research is very important to understand the function of F1, it also needs to be monitored under actual conditions. BREEDCAFS partners are testing hybrid varieties in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cameroon and Vietnam and are working with national and local organizations to ensure the sustainability of the project.

Pierre Marraccini is a researcher and molecular physiologist at CIRAD. He said it was important to test the performance of mixed varieties under different conditions and to be affected by different soil types, weather conditions and human impacts.

This will test how F1 adapts to different environments, which may affect the extent to which F1 is accepted by farmers around the world. "through our field research in farmland demonstration areas, we are comparing their responses to new hybrids with those of old varieties," Pierre said. "

Although these efforts suggest that F1 hybrids can replace traditional varieties, less than 5 per cent of farms sown in Central America for 20 years continue to grow. There are barriers to adoption related to accessibility and acceptance by agricultural communities and the coffee industry.

Overcome accessibility barriers

Although much of the work involving mixed multiplication is done in the laboratory, setting up a laboratory in each coffee producing country can be challenging and costly for many producers to do.

As a result, Herv é 's team learned how to breed hybrids without a laboratory, but instead adapted their practices to local technology and infrastructure to develop an economical and easy-to-replicate mini-nursery method. CIRAD works with research institutions in each country to ensure that they have full autonomy in crossbreeding, whether through laboratory methods (such as somatic embryogenesis) or horticultural methods (such as small incisions). The aim is to increase the reproductive potential of hybrids, reduce costs and limit transportation problems by increasing accessibility.

Many cooperatives companies and associations managed by women are involved as women producers and workers often do not have access to technological progress. Melanie Bordeaux (Melanie Bordeaux) is the scientific director of the Niaga Franci Foundation in Nicaragua. She said that any innovation that makes F1 hybrids available to smallholder producers and women in coffee growing communities is important because "technological innovation in coffee varieties has become the exclusive benefit of large and medium-sized producers. This is mainly due to production costs and replication technology. Controlled by professional companies with high operating costs. This reality makes factories more expensive, which in turn limits the access of small producers. "

She added that the democratization of mixed reproduction technologies had helped smallholder women producers and / or their wives to reduce their production costs, making it easier for them to renovate farms and promote agroforestry.

More and more social recognition

In order for hybrids to be adopted by producers, it is important to understand their lives and farming methods. Aske Skovmand Bosselmann is an associate professor at the School of Science at the University of Copenhagen and is in charge of the BREEDCAFS Farmer Survey Project. He says it is important to supplement their scientific findings on controlled experiments with the experience and insights gained by farmers using new coffee hybrids.

Farmers conducting the survey can provide key information about their farm size, diversity, farming techniques (including the availability of shade trees), access to resources (funding, investment, training, etc.) and the surrounding ecosystem.

Gwendoline Naah, a social economist at IRAD, Cameroon, who manages the farmer survey, says it helps to "identify constraints facing producers" and "understand farmers".

The reports created by BREEDCAFS from these surveys can guide producers in making decisions. For example, it can show producers that by planting shade trees, they can earn extra income by harvesting fruit or wood, while also helping to protect their coffee plants.

Increased demand in supply chain

Understanding the factors that prevent each supply chain member from buying and selling hybrids can help researchers identify where the error message occurs so that they can solve the problem at source and encourage hybrid vehicles to accept it.

This is important because it is not enough to give mixed education to producers or to help them use it. Unless there is a market for these coffees, producers will not be able to sell them and will eventually lose interest in growing coffee. This is why it is also important to involve traders and bakers in mixed research.

In order to increase the popularity of F1 in the market, every member of the coffee supply chain needs to understand their nature and what they offer. BREEDCAFS has created a dialogue platform in each country to encourage supply chain members to share their views on F1. They found that most people did not see the needs and potential of F1. "these dialogue platforms represent privileged moments of communication among supply chain participants," Elvis said. "

The Future of Hybrid varieties and Coffee Industry

F1 has a bright future and can help countries that face challenges due to environmental problems to resume coffee production. Gwendoline believes that in Cameroon, agroforestry systems and hybrids will resume coffee cultivation, increase existing production and increase income.

Although F1 will improve the conditions of producers and their communities, customers will also benefit from it. By providing them with this kind of coffee, they can continue to enjoy their favorite brewing coffee with less negative impact on the environment (or the people who produce it).