South Sudan and the Origins of Coffea Arabica

The recognition of South Sudan as a center of origin for Coffea arabica was suppressed for decades by the political instability of the Sudanese Civil Wars. During the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (1899–1956), early botanical surveys in the 1920s and 1940s identified wild Arabica on the Boma Plateau, but conflict between the northern and southern regions halted further research for nearly 70 years. Following South Sudan's independence in 2011, coffee became a cornerstone of 'peace-building economics.' The transitional government and international partners, such as Nespresso and TechnoServe, promoted coffee as a tool for economic diversification to reduce the nation's 98% dependency on oil revenues. However, renewed internal conflicts in 2013 and 2016 turned coffee-growing regions into front lines, making the Boma Plateau's wild genetic reservoirs inaccessible and positioning the survival of these ancient trees as a matter of national conservation policy and international diplomacy.

In South Sudan, coffee's influence is characterized by a blend of indigenous spiritualism and the historical legacy of Christian missions. In the Equatoria region, 20th-century Catholic and Protestant missions were instrumental in introducing structured agricultural practices, often viewing coffee cultivation as a means of 'industrious' community development. On the Boma Plateau, indigenous groups like the Anyuak and Murle have historically maintained a spiritual stewardship of the wild 'Sula' (coffee) trees, treating the forest as a sacred resource. The consumption of coffee—referred to as Jabana—follows a ritualized communal pattern similar to the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, where the brewing process is accompanied by traditional prayers and the offering of beans to ancestral spirits to ensure protection and agricultural fertility. This spiritual integration has helped preserve wild coffee populations even in the absence of formal state environmental protections.

South Sudan's wild coffee forests represent significant economic potential for the future of coffee. The genetic diversity found in these populations could provide traits for drought tolerance, heat resistance, and disease resistance that are critical for coffee agriculture in a warming climate.

• •Coffea arabica is the only tetraploid (4n=44) coffee species, resulting from a rare natural hybridization of two diploid species (Coffea eugenioides and Coffea canephora) that occurred tens of thousands of years ago.
• •The wild coffee forests of the Boma Plateau were largely inaccessible to scientists during Sudan's civil wars (1955-1972 and 1983-2005), preserving unique genetic diversity.
• •South Sudanese wild Arabica populations have evolved different disease resistance traits than Ethiopian populations, potentially offering new genes for breeding programs.
• •Coffee from the Boma Plateau grows at lower elevations than typical Ethiopian Arabica, suggesting natural adaptation to warmer conditions that could be valuable for climate change adaptation.
• •World Coffee Research has collected and preserved South Sudanese coffee genetic material in gene banks to protect it from habitat loss and climate change.

• •Chapter 1: The Coffee Plant
• •Chapter 2: Coffee Origins

• •Davis, A.P. et al. (2012). 'The High Conservation Value of Ethiopian Coffee Forests.' Kew Science. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
• •World Coffee Research. Annual Reports on Coffee Genetic Diversity. 2014-2023.
• •Scalabrin, S. et al. (2020). 'A single polyploidization event and chromosomal rearrangements drove the evolution of Coffea arabica.' Nature Communications.
• •Lyons, K.E. The Complete World of Coffee. Lyons Den Publishing. 2024.
• •Schilling, T. and Davis, A. (2014). 'Coffee Wilds of South Sudan.' World Coffee Research Report.