Research suggests making Nepal a Bourbon coffee country

 Kathmandu, Jan. 25

New research has concluded that ‘Nepal is a Bourbon Coffee country’ and recommended that Nepal diversify the genetic landscape in order to mitigate the risk of having a single uniform genetic background –the Bourbon genetic background.

In a bid to support the long-term objectives of improving the Nepal coffee industry’s productivity and climate change adaptability by identifying the most appropriate coffee varieties in Nepal, the research was conducted with technical support from the International Trade Centre (ITC) under the European Union-funded EU-Nepal Trade and Investment Programme (TIP).

The Coffee-genotype DNA sequencing research report regarding coffee’s genetic varieties in Nepal launched on Tuesday.

Environment, farming/post-harvest practices and the genetics/varieties of coffee plants determine the agronomic performance of coffee trees, influence the climate change adaptability, efficiency of fertilizer intake to control Carbon Footprint, and the final cup quality, said the ITC and TIP in a statement.

During the research 104 samples of 26 coffee varieties from 13 nurseries across the country were collected and analysed.

The researchers said that the study was instrumental in broadening the better understanding of existing varieties in the country and exploring measures to improve selection, grafting and clones of high-potential vegetal material. Samples from both government and private nurseries, which are distributing plantlets to farmers, were collected to understand the genetic landscape of Nepali coffee.

The research also found that 70 per cent of the total samples have a clear Bourbon genetic fingerprint while 98 per cent of the samples collected from the private nurseries bearing local names have a clear Bourbon genetic fingerprint.

“Though genetic uniformity can be an advantage as Bourbon varieties are climate resilient and adapted to smallholders, it is also a major risk as Bourbon varieties are susceptible to leaf rust,” states the report. “Having a vast majority of Bourbon may lead to a major rust outbreak as happened in Latin America during the last decade,” the report further says. The research, however, found that government nurseries are maintaining genetic diversity.

The report also found that the genetic landscape in private and government nurseries is different. According to a report 98 per cent of samples from private nurseries are with Bourbon genetic fingerprints while government nurseries contain diverse varieties including introgressed varieties and Ethiopian-related coffee plantlets.

About 80 per cent of the collected samples by the research were traditional Arabica. Of the total samples, 71 per cent samples represent the Bourbon variety while 16 per cent and 3 per cent are introgressed and Ethiopian-related respectively.

The research was conducted in collaboration with the National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB), the Coffee Research Programme (CRP) of the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC).