Cropping
12 Things you didn’ t know about robusta coffee farming in Africa
Robusta is a coffee variety that is mostly used in instant coffee and a filler for blends. It is mostly grown in Africa alongside Arabica beans. According to recent reports, Robusta coffee beans, whose production in Africa had declined significantly over the last few decades due to pests, diseases and civil war in some producing countries, is slowly making a comeback. Below are some things you probably didn ' t know about Robusta coffee farming in Africa.
Robusta coffee was discovered in Africa Robusta and Arabica varieties were first discovered in Africa. Robusta was discovered growing wildly in Republic of Congo( former Belgium Congo) in 1898. In ancient times, it was also chewed by the Buganda tribe in
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Uganda.
It ' s named after a Belgian firm It draws its name from Robusta, the trade name of a Belgium horticultural firm that marketed the coffee species after its discovery in the early period of the 20th Century.
It was initially known as Coffea Laurentii The coffee beans were initially known as ' Coffea laurentii ' in honor of Emil L a u r e n t, t h e F r e n c h m a n w h o discovered the crop growing wildly in Belgium Congo. It changed to ' Coffea robusta ' after the Belgium firm started marketing it.
Uganda is Africa ' s ' s biggest producer of Robusta coffee Uganda is the biggest producer of the crop in Africa. It produced 4.8 million bags in the 2015-16 season, which is a
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Top foreign exchange earner for Uganda Robusta and Arabica coffee are the leading exports for Uganda. In 2015, the nation exported 285.3 million kilogrammes.
Accounts for 40 percent of Africa ' s annual coffee production Robusta accounts for about 40 percent of total coffee production in Africa annually. In 2015, Uganda and Ivory Coast produced about 7 million bags of robusta coffee. Other countries that produce the coffee variety include South Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo Brazzaville.
Robusta coffee was South Sudan ' s first ever non-oil export In 2015, Nespresso, a global coffee
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