Coffee
Cultivation
Additionally, Coffea canephora is less susceptible to disease than C. arabica and can be cultivated in lower altitudes and warmer climates where C. arabica will not thrive. The robusta strain was first collected in 1890 from the Lomani River, a tributary of the Congo River, and was conveyed from the Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to Brussels to Java around 1900. From Java, further breeding resulted in the establishment of robusta plantations in many countries. In particular, the spread of the devastating coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix), to which C. arabica is vulnerable, hastened the uptake of the resistant robusta. Hemileia vastatrix is a fungal pathogen and results in light, rust-colored spots on the undersides of coffee plant leaves. Hemileia vastatrix grows exclusively on the leaves of coffee pants. Coffee leaf rust is found in virtually all countries that produce coffee.
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