Index Table of contents

Arabica Coffee Production in the Yunnan Province of China

H. ZHANG1, J. LI1, H. ZHOU1, Z. CHEN2, G. SONG3, Z. PENG4,

A. P. PEREIRA5, M. C. SILVA5, V. M. P. VÁRZEA5
1
Dehong Tropical Agriculture Research Institute of Yunnan (DTARI), Yunnan, People’s
Republic of China
2
IICT/CIFC consultant, Oeiras, Portugal
3
Yunnan Vocational College of Tropical Crops, 66500 Puer, Yunnan,
People’s Republic of China
4
Yunnan Hogood Coffee Ldt, 678400 Mang City, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China
5
Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (IICT) - Centro de Investigação das
Ferrugens do Cafeeiro (CIFC), Quinta do Marquês, 2784-505 Oeiras, Portugal

SUMMARY

Arabica coffee was introduced into Yunnan Province of China in 1892 by French
missionaries. In 1950s, the coffee growing area at Yunnan was about 4,000 ha of Typica and
Bourbon varieties introduced from Burma. Mainly due to coffee leaf rust (CLR) the coffee
growing area decreased to 270 ha in 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s the Dehong Tropical
Agriculture Research Institute of Yunnan (DTARI) released two rust resistant cultivars,
respectively S288 introduced from India and Catimor (Caturra 19/1 x HDT 832/1) from the
Coffee Rust Research Center (CIFC)/ Tropical Research Institute (IICT), in Portugal. Due to
low yield, poor cup quality and susceptibility to coffee leaf rust (CLR) and stem borer, the
cultivar S288 has been gradually replaced by Catimor.

In 2011, the coffee area at Yunnan Province had expanded to 43,000 ha, with 90% of Catimor
cultivar planted, namely line CIFC 7963. In 2010 the production of green coffee reached
49,400 tons. DTARI recorded in their experimental fields with Catimor yields of 3 to 5.25
tons/ha/year on average, with an occasional top year of 7.5 tons/ha. These yields are obtained
at a plant density of 4995–6240/ha, with inputs of fertilizers 2 times/year, and of pesticides 3
times/year, to control stem borers. According to the production plans of Yunnan Province, the
coffee-growing area will increase to 66,700 ha by the end of 2015, with an expected annual
output of some 96,000 tons of green coffee. Nowadays, there are more than 200,000 coffee
growing households in Yunnan and nearly 700,000 persons benefit directly or indirectly from
the coffee industry.

The major coffee regions are located at altitudes between 700 and 1700m and latitudes 21°N
(Menghai County, Xishuangbanna District) and about 26°N (Huaping County, Lijiang
District). In these regions average temperatures are 18.9-22.4ºC, annual rainfall 700-1700mm
and 1800-2300 sunshine-hours/year.

The cup quality of Catimor coffees produced in Yunnan reached the international standard of
B++ to A++ depending on cultivation altitude. Three coffee seed samples from a Catimor
coffee plantation at Lujiangba have also been sent to the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association
of America) for cup testing and received quality scores of 77, 79 and 81.

Unfortunately, over the past few years the cultivar Catimor has become susceptible to CLR.
Recently, rust races not yet earlier found in China were characterized at CIFC: race VIII
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(v2,3,5) from cultivar S288 and races XXXIII (v5,7 or v5,7,9), XXXIV (v2,5,7 or v2,5,7,9)
and XLII (v2,5,7,8 or v2,5,7,8,9) from Catimor. A new rust race with the virulence genotype
(v1,5,7 or v1,5,7,9) was also detected in Catimor samples. Meanwhile, DTARI and CIFC
have increased a cooperative programme to introduce new coffee germplasm with broad
spectra of resistance to leaf rust and guidelines have been given to prevent or delay the
emergence of new rust races.

INTRODUCTION

Coffee was first successfully cultivated in China's Taiwan Province in 1884 and it was
introduced in Yunnan Province in 1892 by French missionaries, who brought Arabica coffee
(Coffea arabica L.) seeds and planted them at Zhukula village in the mountain valleys near
Binchuan. Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre ex Froehner) was brought to Hainan
Province, the only tropical area in China, from Malaya by Chinese people in 1908.

Yunnan's coffee production began in 1914 with the introduction by Jinpo border officials of
Arabica coffee varieties as Typica and Bourbon from Myanmar (Burma) that were cultivated
in Nongxianshan village of Ruili County. Arabica coffee was then distributed to other regions
with sporadic planting in some provinces with suitable climatic conditions as Lujianba,
Baoshan District.

This work attempts to give a panoramic view of the coffee production in China with particular
emphasis on the production plans of Yunnan Province. The collaborative activities between
Dehong Tropical Agriculture Research Institute of Yunnan (DTARI) and Coffee Rust
Research Center (CIFC)/ Tropical Research Institute (IICT) in Portugal are also described.

Coffee growing in China

Yunnan Province is a mountainous area with the Tropic of Cancer running trough southern
part. It is located in the southwest part of the People’s Republic of China, has an area of
394,000 km2 approximately, and borders Myanmar (Burma) in the west, Laos in the south and
Vietnam in the southeast. The capital of the province is Kunming.

The major Arabica coffee growing area in Yunnan is located from 21°08'41.60" to
26°37'47.59" North longitudes, 101°43'16.74" to 101°15'56.95" East latitudes. Coffee is
grown at altitudes between 700 and 1700m with average annual temperatures between 18.9-
22.4ºC, annual rainfall of 700-1700mm and 1800-2300 sunshine-hours/year.

Yunnan’s main coffee growing districts are Puer, Baoshan, Dehong, Xishuangbanna, Lincang,
Wenshan, Honghe and Nujiang comprising 43,065 ha (Table 1).

During 1950s, Arabica coffee plantation in Yunnan occupied about 4,000 ha but this area
decreased to around 270 ha in the 1970s mainly due to serious attack by coffee leaf rust
(CLR) and also by marketing problems and social political policy.

In the 1980s and 1990s the DTARI released two rust resistant varieties, respectively S.288
introduced from India in 1963, and Catimor (Caturra 19/1 x HDT 832/1) from CIFC in
Oeiras, Portugal. Catimor was first introduced in Hainan, Yunnan’s Lujianba, Ruili and other
places for adaptability growth experiment.

In 1988 the efforts of the Yunnan Provincial Government with the Nestlé Company, resulting
in an UNDP project, developed the planted coffee area in Yunnan reaching 7,800 ha in 1997
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and expanded to 43,000 ha in 2012 with 90% of Catimor, namely line CIFC 7963. Coffee
production in Yunnan Province reached 53,240 tons in 2011 compared to 49,334 tons in
2010.

In 2010 the production of green coffee reached 49,334 tons with an increased annual area of
8068 ha and harvested area of 24,933 ha (Table 1).

Table 1. Yunnan’s planted area, increased annual area, harvested area and coffee
production in 2010.

Total area Increased annual area Harvested Production

Location
(ha) (ha) area (ha) (t)
Puer 18,413 3,561 11,127 21,200
Baoshan 9,180 667 6,553 14,200
Dehong 8,966 2,660 3,927 9,300
Xishuangbanna 3,347 680 2,253 3,600
Lincang 1,413 373 500 565
Wenshan 753 67 213 200
Honghe 673 27 100 45
Nujiang 320 33 260 224
Total 43,065 8,068 24,933 49,334

In 1993 a demonstration farm was implemented at Jia Zhong (Hogood Coffee Co. Ltd.) with
the main objective to know the yield behavior of Catimor and to supply know how to the
farmers and motivate them to grow this cultivar and to replace the traditional S.288 by
Catimor.

In this experiment (6 years harvested) the average yield was 12.465 kg/ha (coffee parchment),
with a pick of 15840 kg/ha in the 4th year yield (Table 2) and with a plant density of 2 x 0.8m.
The following scheme of fertilizing was used: after harvest (organic, 10kg/plant); before
flowering and in harvest season. Bordeaux mixture was used 2 times/year.

Table 2. The Catimor CIFC 7963 production in Hogood Coffee Co. Ltd.

Cultivar Area (ha) Production (parchment coffee) at different harvested year (kg/ha)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Catimor 0.93 13365 12375 14850 15840 5940 12420
S.288 6.4 830 1280 2320 3090 1695 1980

Nowadays the majority of farms reached on average 3 to 5.25 tons/ha/year (clean coffee).
More than 99% per cent of the coffee enterprises belongs to private sector.

According to the production plans of Yunnan Province, the coffee-growing area will increase
to 66.700 ha by the end of 2015, with an expected annual output of 96.000 tons of green
coffee. Nowadays, there are more than 200,000 coffee growing households in Yunnan and
nearly 700,000 persons benefit directly or indirectly from the coffee industry.

Robusta coffee is mainly grown in Hainan Province. According to historical records in 1908
Chinese people brought Robusta coffee from Malaya to Zhanzhou County, Hainan Province.
In 1988, coffee (Arabica and Robusta) cultivation area in this Province reached 15,850 ha.

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However, that area decreased to 999 ha in 1998 and in 2010 only had 220 ha with harvested
area of 99 ha, production of 156 tons, with the output value of 2.34 million Yuan. Selection
and breeding of Robusta coffee have been done by Spice and Beverage Research Institute,
Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and eight high yield clones 24, 24-1, 24-
2, 24-10, 24-11, 6, 26 and 27 were obtained with 3000kg clean coffee bean per hectare.

Characteristics of coffee from Yunnan Province

Coffee processed by the wet method, associated with favorable climatic conditions provided
the excellent cup quality classified by the international standard as B++ to A++ degree
depending on the altitude of coffee growth (Table 3). Catimor 7963 was tested for cup quality
and the samples were classified as A for 1100m from Lujiang got grade A++ for 1100m
altitude (Table 3). For further confirmation, three Catimor seed samples from coffee
plantations at Lujiangba (Baoshan District) were analyzed by SCAA (Specialty Coffee
Association of America) for cup quality, and obtained 77, 79 and 81 score points.

Table 3. Coffee cup quality of Catimor 7963 from different regions in Yunnan.

Exterior Moisture Flavour description Altitude

Location Taste Quality
colour content (%) (m)
General aroma (burnt
flavour), strong sharp acid,
Normal,
bitter medium (Chinese
DTARI Light blue Beany 11.5 B++ 800
herb bitter), flavour as
flavour
roasted sweet potato, body
medium
Aroma intensity (flower
potpourri style), strong fruit
Experimental
acid, bitter more than
farm, Blue Normal 10.3 A 1100
medium, fast and incredible
DTARI
lingering aftertaste, rich
mouth feeling
Normal, Aroma medium, strong
Nanjingli,
Blue Beany 10.6 acidity, bitter more than B++ 1260
Ruili
flavour medium
Strong aroma but slight
weak than the same origin
of Typica, bitter strong,
Laoshuijing,
Light blue Normal 10.9 high fruit flavour acid, A++ 1100
Lujiang farm
incredible lingering
aftertaste, rich mouth
feeling
Blue, Aroma strong, bitter
clean, medium, acid strong, mild
Sanli, Liuku large and Normal 11.2 acerbity, incredible A++ 1200
uniform lingering aftertaste, rich
grain size mouth feeling
Very strong aroma, strong
bitter, fast, good lingering
Babianjiang,
Blue Normal 10.9 aftertaste, flavour in roasted A++ 890
Ninger
sweet potato, acid medium,
rich mouth feeling

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Coffee disease and pests

The major coffee diseases in Yunnan’s coffee plantations are coffee leaf rust (Hemileia
vastatrix Berk & Br.), leaf spot (Cercospora coffeicola Berk. & Cooke), anthracnose
(Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz) and coffee physiological dieback diseases.

The main local pest is the coffee stem brown borer (Acalolepta cervina (Hope) Synonym:
(Dihammus cervinus) although stem white borer (Xylotrechus quadripes Chev.), red coffee
borer (Zeuzera coffeae (Nietner)), mealy bug (Planococcus lilacinus Cockrell) and green
scale (Coccus viridis (Green)) are also present.

Collaborative activities between DTARI and CIFC/IICT

The most serious disease in Yunnan’s coffee plantations is CLR caused by the fungus H.
vastatrix. Recently, Catimor became susceptible to CLR, with high levels of incidence at
coffee plantation in Hogood Coffee Co. Ltd (Table 4).

Table 4. Comparison of coffee leaf rust incidence on Catimor CIFC 7963

in different geographical locations in 2011.

Location Altitude (m) Incidence (%) Incidence index

Dehong DTARI 810 58.9 26.4
Dehong Hogood 820 88.8 62.7
Yingjiang County 900 84.5 43.4
Puer´s Nadaohe 1040 91.3 53.3
Puer´s Laobentian 788 100 62.5

This phenomenon is related with the increasing of virulence of H. vastatrix (development of

new rust races) in these coffee regions, confirmed by coffee leaf rust survey. Several CLR
samples from China coffee fields were characterized at CIFC (Portugal), in the set of coffee
differentials, as previously described. The first rust samples, from Caturra, Typica and
Bourbon were characterized in 1994 as races: I (v2,5), II (v5), XV (v4,5), XXIII (v1,2,4,5)
and XXIV (v2,4,5). Recently, six CLR samples from S.288 and Catimor were characterized
respectively as race VIII (v2,3,5) and races XXXIII (v5,7 or v5,7,9), XXXIV (v2,5,7 or
v2,5,7,9). A new rust race, from Catimor, never characterized before showed the following
genotype of virulence: (v1,5,7 or v1,5,7,9).

In several coffee regions of Yunnan, Catimor did not show yet CLR infection. Similar
situation has been described for the same Catimor as well as in other HDT derivatives in other
coffee growing countries, like Brazil, Colombia, India and Philippines among others.

In the last years DTARI and CIFC have increased the cooperation to develop new resistant
coffee cultivars as well as to implement some strategies to delay or to prevent the appearance
of new rust races in Yunnan coffee regions. This collaborative research work includes also
training on different subjects related with control of CLR by resistant varieties, a rust race
survey in different coffee regions, introduction of new coffee genotypes and selection of
coffee genotypes with large spectra of resistance to CLR.

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