Mon Mar 03 11:08:54 UTC 2025: ## Climate-Resistant Coffee Offers Hope to South Sudanese Farmers Amidst Global Crisis
**JUBA, South Sudan** – A rare coffee variety, excelsa, is offering a lifeline to farmers in South Sudan struggling with poverty and the impacts of climate change. Discovered over a century ago, excelsa’s resilience to drought and disease is attracting international attention as the global coffee industry grapples with increasingly erratic weather patterns.
Major coffee producers like Brazil are facing significant harvest shortfalls due to drought, driving prices to record highs. Excelsa, native to South Sudan and parts of Central Africa, thrives in harsh conditions, offering a potential solution to the climate crisis impacting the industry.
Catherine Bashiama, a mother of twelve, exemplifies the hope excelsa offers. After her husband’s injury left their family struggling, she turned to coffee farming. The first buds on her three-year-old excelsa plants represent a chance for her children’s education and a better future. Similarly, Taban John, another farmer, hopes to use his coffee earnings to improve his family’s life and ease the burden of transporting his crops.
Community leaders see excelsa as a path to financial independence, reducing reliance on unpredictable aid. However, challenges remain. Elia Box, who lost half his crop to a fire, highlights the need for long-term stability and peace to support sustainable coffee farming in a region still grappling with conflict. The lack of law and order discourages long-term investment in crops like coffee, he explained.
While excelsa currently represents a small fraction of the global coffee market, experts believe its climate resilience could make it a crucial player in meeting future demand. The success of excelsa in South Sudan will depend not only on its cultivation but also on creating a stable environment that fosters long-term investment and growth.
First Piper 