CoffeeBridge: Bridging Knowledge to the Field
The importance of Robusta coffee in the world coffee production and market is growing (see Coffee: An Important Cash Crop). This project wants to support Robusta coffee farmers by providing research that can support decision making on both farm and policy level. Specifically, the CoffeeBridge project evaluates the agronomic and socio-economic potential of Robusta coffee genetic resources as a cash crop in the Congo Basin.
In this project, expertise from different disciplines is integrated to achieve several goals:
- Provide science-based advice for the revival of sustainable Robusta coffee production in the Tshopo Province DR Congo
- Conserve the genetic diversity of Congolese Coffea canephora genetic resources and its wild relatives
- Develop a local, sustainable economy in a global context
This project will contribute, directly and indirectly, to the conservation and valorization of coffee genetic resources and several UN Sustainable Development Goals. Although this project is focusing on the Congo Basin and Tshopo Province in particular, the project will also contribute to broader coffee challenges.
The project has six work packages:
WP1: Management and coordination
This work package aims to coordinate, streamline, and enhance the interaction between work packages 2-5, the partners, BELSPO, the steering committee, and the stakeholders.
WP2: Socio-economic evaluation of Robusta
The local coffee chain, its sociological dimensions and economic relevance are evaluated by carrying out socio-economic surveys in the Tshopo Province.
WP3: Characterization of wild and cultivated Robusta diversity
This work package will perform a genetic, phenotypic, chemical, and organoleptic study of the available genetic resources, hoping to identify new interesting Robusta coffee characteristics and genetic lines. This information can then be incorporated in breeding and cultivating activities locally and globally.
WP4: Agroforestry and soil fertility
An agro-ecological evaluation of the existing cropping systems combined with the latest agroforestry research on Robusta coffee will result in recommendations to improve current agronomic practices and the cropping system in order to arrive at a sustainable and profitable coffee culture, as a cornerstone for the well-being of the local communities.
WP5: Research on historic sources and archives
Research in the (colonial) archives will allow to ‘recuperate’ knowledge on Robusta coffee kept in archives and grey literature, which can provide information on the origin and ‘genetic’ identity of cultivated Robusta coffee and on past successes and failures.
WP6: Integration of the results
Formulating science-based policy advice will provide stakeholders with a tool for the revival of coffee cultivation in the Tshopo Province.
