An Unprecedented Journey: The FAO Coffee Mission to Ethiopia | 25, Issue 13
Just over half a century ago, a team of coffee researchers dove into the forests of Ethiopia, their discoveries still used in coffee institutes around the world today.
Professor LOURIVAL CARMO MÔNACO, a geneticist who took part in the coffee journey that identified several coffee varieties we enjoy nearly 60 years later, recalls the mission. As told to JONAS LEME FERRARESSO.
The career of an agronomist was a natural path for me. I was born in Piracicaba city, land of the most traditional Brazilian agronomic university, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz” (ESALQ). I had many family members who were farmers, and my parents were aware that qualification was the relevant factor for thriving in professional life. My interest in coffee was due to its coexistence in the coffee region of Piracicaba. The great opportunity to work with coffee was given by Dr. Alcides Carvalho, who at the time was my university peer. In the college, we were among those most involved in the progress of basic sciences, with a group of researchers from ESALQ such as Professors Brieger, Gurgel, and Paterniani.
My job in the genetics section was to open a horizon for the future. I was lucky to be able to work with a competent and professionally respected team that shaped my path in the world of knowledge. It is essential to highlight the scientific spirit of Dr. Alcides Carvalho, who involved new research companions with the philosophy, now trendy, that “intellectual capital is the only capital that increases the more we share it.” His greatest concern was the formation of a team that shared the same principles and commitment to professional honesty. This orientation facilitated my journey through professional life, which only brought us joy and conditions to contribute, within our limits, to the modernization of agribusiness. Nothing more than “on the job training.” Over many years, I was able to contribute in other areas related to coffee knowledge and its management.
The genetics section of the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC) where I worked had a highly qualified team in terms of coffee genetics, and all members were familiar with the evaluation of materials from different origins. We were well-studied in the heritability of coffee through our research and, also, our section had one of the best collections of species of Coffea, thanks to the work of Professors Carvalho and Krug. The institute was the main source of breeding and releasing of highly productive varieties such as Mundo Novo, Catuaí, Obatã, and Acaiá. Today, institutes still develop and select many varieties for resistance or tolerance to pests and diseases, but it is important to remember that at that time we were already working on resistance to coffee leaf rust, even before it struck Brazil.
An Adventure
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) mission was my first trip to the African continent. In my master’s degree at the University of California, I found myself involved in deepening the knowledge of the origin of species and the preservation of biodiversity. There is nothing more logical than knowing biodiversity, particularly from the point of view of future opportunities for the improvement of plants. At the time, at the age of 30, I faced the challenge as an opportunity to contribute to the global genetic knowledge and preserve a germplasm bank, useful chemical compounds, plant architecture, flowering, and resistance to plagues and diseases. In that time, looking for C. arabica’s natural resistance was a pioneering and innovative project. Many studies after the journey were developed in partnership with Dr. Branquinho de Oliveira in the Coffee Rust Research Centre in Oeiras, Portugal.
At the time, participating in a trip to Africa with members from different countries, with different lived experiences, to develop activities related to the coffee mission, was really stimulating. We were committed to making it a success. Dr. Meyer was deeply involved in the schedule, what to bring, work material, equipment, etc.
We were a group of scientists whose scientific spirit led us to share intellectual capital. We had a goal and a mission to accomplish which facilitated the relationship. Our dedication and respect were mutual and we had to take the opportunity offered by the different regions of Ethiopia. The environment was unpredictable. We spent practically three months in the countryside, living in challenging conditions, working with many different dialects in the country, where even the interpreters found communication difficulties. Sometimes we had to try words in Italian which were known to some locals due to Italian influence in some regions.
There were no different functions among members, only Dr. Meyer who was the head of the expedition. We shared the responsibility of collecting genetic material, setting up camp, etc. Sometimes we ate military rations and other days canned meat, in addition to other products. From time to time, one of us was selected to be the chef of the day.
In urban areas, we enjoyed sega wat, ground beef with Berber pepper. I remember the tasty tej, wine made with honey and herbs, and kita firfir made with teff cereal.
For the mission itself, we focused on areas where there were native plant populations coexisting with commercial plantations. It was a mix of extractivism and family farming. Some plantations were technically advanced, but far from existing technologies in Brazil in the same decade, such as selected and productive cultivars.
It was a friendly environment, but new to researchers. Travel by car and on the back of animals were part of the routine, but they were easily incorporated by the group. Sometimes we traveled in trucks with wooden benches. Flights were still far from the facilities we have today; some airports were primary, but the enchantment of the work made everything interesting. The team spirit motivated all to explore. Dr. Meyer and our team were totally dedicated to the project, almost selfless.
As expected, not everything went as planned. Accidents with tires or refueling with the wrong fuel sometimes happened. At that time the word “petrol” was used, if I am not mistaken, to describe diesel and not gasoline. One day the entire team spent all day cleaning the vehicle's tank.
We often spent the night in tents. River water was used many times by animals and by us. We slept in the countryside against the backdrop of beautiful native coffee trees. The bucolic landscapes excited us and stimulated our search for new plant material.
Looking Back
I never returned to Ethiopia, as we continued our work with coffee material in Brazil in partnership with the Center of Oeiras. I did travel again to Africa later, several times, to evaluate the occurrence of coffee rust, mainly in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Mozambique.
Years after, I realized the importance of this expedition, how much we contributed to advances in coffee knowledge and collected singular genetic material. It was certain that our mission was a success and we preserved valuable genetic material to be explored by researchers from major coffee research centers. In this expedition, genetic material with very low levels of caffeine were identified, which opened new lines of research. These discoveries pushed the researchers for differentiation and quality, thinking outside of the “commodity” box. It is up to new generations of researchers to set up their strategies to fund undiscovered genetic factors of interest in this collection.
Coffee is a perennial plant, so it requires a certain amount of time to cultivate, study, and collect genetic material. The material collected in the expedition was used for studies related to morphological and physiological characteristics, resistance to pests and diseases, chemical and organoleptic quality studies, and more. A good example is a fact that almost 50 years later, plants with lower caffeine content or resistance to nematodes were identified in the collection by some Brazilian research centers.
The “gene pool” is the clay in which the breeder works to research specific demands of the productive sector or the consumer. The genetic research has been improved with new computer techniques, mapping the variations; however, these studies demand continuity and persistence.
There is a frequent threat identified in the centers of origin by the expansion of agriculture. The climate changes are risking coffee populations in Ethiopia. This threat justifies the creation of guidelines aimed at preserving genetic material at source and in producing countries. A major challenge for governments and international organizations is to keep and preserve genetics for future generations.
I appreciate the opportunity and challenge of remembering my professional experience lived for almost 60 years. I hope I have remembered the interesting points and I hope I did not make omissions
Professor LOURIVAL CARMO MÔNACO was a researcher at the IAC from 1957 to 1991, where he worked on solutions to the arrival of coffee leaf rust to Brazil in 1970 and published dozens of papers. JONAS LEME FERRARESSO is an agronomist and specialty coffee professional working across coffee’s full value chain in the Região do Circuíto das Águas Paulista.
A full report of the expeditions details and work is available in the report, FAO Coffee Mission to Ethiopia 1964–1965, which is available from Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de Café (CENICAFE).
Understanding the Origins of the FAO Mission
While 124 species of Coffea are catalogued today, in 1947, French botanist Auguste Jean Baptiste Chevalier’s Les Caféiers du Globe III Systématique des Caféiers et Faux Caféiers listed only 66. At the time, world coffee exports were the most valuable commodity, ahead of cotton and wheat. By the 1960s, Coffea arabica accounted for 75 percent of coffee consumed globally.
Observing the rise in global coffee consumption— and noting the vague information and gaps in coffee science— a Brazilian professor of coffee genetics, Carlos Arnaldo Krug, brought a suggestion to the first- ever Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Conference on Coffee Production and Protection, held in 1960. He recommended the creation of an international mechanism to explore native coffee species that would also establish a worldwide collection to bring advances and benefits to all coffee producing countries. The motion was passed, and the professor began planning the expedition.
Visiting 40 different locations in 92 days, the expedition was an adventure: the researchers[1] traveled by plane, car, mule, and on foot in an Ethiopia that did not yet have all the infrastructure it has today. Joined by representatives of the Ethiopian government, the group carried their own equipment and were isolated from phone contact in most places.
The group collected 621 variations of C. arabica seeds, all of which were shared with research institutes worldwide, including the Central Coffee Research Institute (India), Coffee Research Station (Tanzania), Agricultural Technical School (Ethiopia), Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences (Costa Rica), Research Station of Tingo María (Peru), and Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (Brazil). The herbaria, a collection of preserved plant specimens and notes from the journey, were distributed to the Royal Botanic Garden (UK) and the US National Arboretum, but later others had access to the material. The significant amount of information acquired on this expedition was made public and free to access, benefiting many other researchers.
References
[1] The group was formed by L.M. Fernie, plant breeders; D.J. Greathead, entomologist; F.G. Meyer, botanist; R.L. Narasimhaswamy, plant breeder; and L.C. Mônaco, plant geneticist. The expedition was also supported by the Ethiopian government, which sent five members: A.A. Makonnen, Ethiopian coffee board; D. Yirgou, plant pathologist; A.O. Abaye, Ministry of Agriculture; and F.E. Bolton and A.Y. Yomano- Barhan from Jimma Technical School of Agriculture.
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