Coffee exporters boss cites benefits of genetic engineering

Chairman of the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association (JCEA) and CEO of the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, Norman Grant, has cited the benefits of genetic engineering to ensure the sustainability of Jamaican coffee production including the superior Blue Mountain Coffee (BMC), in the face of lower yields globally and in Jamaica due to climate change, pest and disease, among other factors.

Speaking in an interview recently, Grant noted that genetic engineering in coffee is transforming coffee growing using new practices, including developing pest and disease resistant strains. He called for measures such as improved farm roads in coffee growing regions and the injection of resources such as mechanisation to facilitate land terracing which will reduce landslides and other problems such as excess shade (bush) which stunts the growth of coffee in the hilly regions where coffee is grown, particularly in the Blue Mountain areas.

“Genetic engineering in coffee is really transforming coffee growing through new practices designed to ensure sustainability by improving coffee’s resilience against climate change and disease and pests such as leafrust disease and the coffee borer pest. However, we need an intervention to supply the necessary resources as Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaica’s internationally renowned speciality coffee is grown in a particular geographic and legally defined region, encompassing sections of St Andrew, St Thomas and Portland which affects the character of the coffee including features such as its body and flavour,” Grant noted.

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A company release referenced scientific research that since its initial application to plants more than 25 years ago, genetic transformation has become an indispensable tool in plant molecular biology and functional genomics. Genetic transformation technology is considered as an extension of conventional plant breeding technologies offering unique breeding opportunities by introducing novel genetic material irrespective of the species barrier and creating phenotypes with desired traits that are not available in the germplasm pool of crop plants. The major objectives for using genetic engineering technique in coffee are to introduce new traits into elite coffee genotypes, develop new cultivars with desirable traits such as pest and disease resistance, herbicide resistance, drought and frost tolerance, and improved cup quality, which are not possible to incorporate using traditional breeding techniques, it continued.

Grant notes that the strategic vision of the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association is to develop the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee brand and expand the market, ultimately seeking the engagement of over 25 million coffee stakeholders and millions more of coffee consumers globally in celebrating the ‘finest coffee in the world’ by a strategy geared at guaranteeing quality, maintaining consistent supply and sustainable prices.

He said expanding coffee cultivation in the Blue Mountain region would eventually lead to better and more stable prices and a more profitable living for the hundreds of farmers and farm families in Jamaica.

“The fundamental mission of the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association, in tandem with the various stakeholders, is to grow and redevelop the Jamaican coffee industry through increased production and productivity of our farmers, sustainable prices, brand development and expansion and market development locally and internationally, and diversification,” Grant, who is among only a few certified Coffee Tasters in Jamaica notes.

He said the target of the JCEA was to increase production in phases from the current 260,000 boxes annually to 350,000 boxes by 2025 and 500,000 boxes by 2030, 750,000 boxes by 2040 and one million boxes by 2050.