STiR coffee and tea 29
STiR Coffee and Tea sat down with Andrew Hetzel, a coffee
expert who worked extensively in Uganda from 2012-2016 to
talk about the bees' role in the coffee industry. According to
Hetzel, bees are uniquely useful in Uganda for one reason—the
vast majority of the country's crop is robusta.
"Unlike arabica, which is self-fertilizing, robusta is cross-
pollinating and depends on bees, the wind, or other passers-by
for assistance," said Hetzel. He went on to explain how robusta
gives off a "perfumed jasmine-like smell and the smell of coffee
flowers fills the air, far more intense than arabica fields, because
it depends on the transmission of pollen for reproduction."
And because most of the coffee farms in Uganda are small-
holder, using bees to pollinate their robusta crop, "increases the
marginal utility of each plant, as it is relied upon by a greater
number of individuals." He's not wrong—coffee farms average
half of a farming family's income in Uganda, so better pollina-
tion can really make a difference.
"I added 100 hives to my 30-acre coffee plantation," said
Edward Nanyole, a Ugandan coffee farmer. "Apart from boost-
ing my coffee production, I also earn from the honey. [The
bees] help me get more coffee and I also make money from
selling the honey they make."
Robusta gives off a perfumed jasmine-like smell of coffee flowers
which fills the air. It is far more intense than arabica fields because
it depends on the transmission of pollen for reproduction.
(Photo credit: Andrew Hetzel.)
