The Portuguese-Timorese project that wants to find a new 'hybrid' to save world coffee

Published 2021년 11월 10일

Tridge summary

A collaborative effort between Portuguese and Timorese researchers aims to identify coffee plant varieties that are resistant to orange rust, a fungus that significantly impacts Arabica coffee trees, potentially increasing Timorese coffee production and offering a global solution to this problem. This project, part of a new agricultural cooperation protocol between Portugal and Timor-Leste, builds on earlier work that led to the development of resistant coffee varieties like Catimor and Sarchimor, many of which have the Timor Hybrid as a parent. The initiative, funded by Portuguese cooperation, seeks to enhance the potential of the Timor Hybrid and improve plantation management practices to boost production.

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Original content

Portuguese and Timorese researchers and technicians are working to identify varieties of coffee plants that can, as happened at the beginning of the 20th century, increase production and combat the sector's biggest problem: orange rust. "The objective is to identify promising plants from existing plantations which, being alongside others with severe symptoms of the disease and which produce little, are healthy and productive", explained to Lusa Hugo Trindade, coordinator of Quinta Portugal, a project financed by Portuguese cooperation and who leads the project. The most promising plants will be marked, isolated and then verified, trying to identify if they remain productive and healthy. If this happens, estimates Trindade, not only can Timorese production increase significantly, doubling in five years, but also a new solution to a global problem can be found. The work will be developed within the scope of a new protocol for technical-scientific cooperation in the agricultural ...

Source: Agro Portugal