Coffee Producers in Panama are Exchanging Robusta Clones
Coffee producer associations in Panama will exchange clones of this variety with their counterparts in Central America as part of an agreement to improve grain quality and open new markets.
You may be asking……….What is a Robusta clone? A Robusta clone is a coffee plant (of the Coffea canephora species) that has been asexually propagated from a single, superior parent plant to create genetically identical copies, ensuring desirable traits like high yield, disease resistance, or specific bean characteristics (like large size or flavor profile) are maintained and consistently reproduced, unlike plants grown from seed which can lose these traits. These clones are selected for their exceptional qualities, offering benefits such as faster maturity, drought tolerance, or resistance to diseases like Coffee Wilt, making them more profitable for farmers.
Key Aspects of Robusta Clones:
- Asexual Propagation: Clones are made from cuttings (nodal cuttings) from a “mother” plant, ensuring they have the exact same genetic makeup as the parent.
- Preservation of Traits: This method preserves valuable characteristics that might get lost if propagated through seeds, such as high productivity or pest resistance.
- Specific Varieties: Different clones, like ‘Srintil’ or ‘BP 534’, are developed and named for their unique attributes, influencing bean size, shape, and cup quality.
- Agronomic Benefits: Clonal Robusta varieties often offer faster maturity (flowering within a year), higher yields, and better tolerance to environmental stressors like drought.
- Commercial Importance: Selecting the right clone for a specific environment helps optimize growth, reduce costs, and improve the quality of beans for the market, including specialty coffee grades.
In essence, Robusta clones are selected, genetically identical “super-plants” bred for consistent, high-performance coffee production. Coffee producer associations in Panama will exchange clones of this variety with their counterparts in Central America, as part of an agreement aimed at improving grain quality and opening new sales markets. This agreement, explained José Villarreal, acting general director of the Institute of Agricultural Innovation (IDIAP), was reached during the fourth annual meeting of the Regional Cooperative Program for the Technological Development and Modernization of Coffee Growing (PROMECAFE). In the district of Capira, in the province of West Panama, as well as in Veraguas, Coclé, and Los Santos, the cultivation of robusta coffee is part of the family economy and represents an important source of employment.
Through this exchange of robusta coffee clones, the goal is to identify which varieties best adapt to the cultivation zones of different countries and introduce their cultivation in nations like Costa Rica, where traditionally only arabica coffee plantations exist. In Costa Rica, Villarreal noted, the planting of robusta coffee was authorized starting in 2018, after having been banned since 1988. The exchanges of robusta coffee clones will be carried out through PROMECAFE, while trials with the varieties that enter Panama must be supervised by the IDIAP. These trials will be developed in different environments in the country and, generally, take between five and seven years, the official specified. The ultimate goal is for producers to organize into cooperatives, achieve higher quality coffee production, and be able to open export markets for Panamanian robusta coffee.
