- Tanzania’s coffee industry enjoyed a bumper harvest of beans in the 2022/23 season, earning the economy an impressive $238 million.
- Coffee is the East African country’s largest cash crop and the sector provides income to over 400,000 households.
- To further boost production, the government is increasing the supply of seedlings to more farmers across the country.
Tanzania may be famous for its expansive tourism offerings, iconic Mount Kilimanjaro, awe-inspiring wildlife wonders in the Serengeti, and the white sandy beaches of Zanzibar, but it is quickly gaining fame on a new frontier: the production of world-class coffee beans.
“Some of the finest single-estate and Peaberry coffee beans in the world come from here,” notes international coffee tester and analyst Arne Preuss in his recent review of the development of Tanzania’s coffee industry.
Tanzania’s coffee production
Tanzania’s coffee production averages between 30,000 and 40,000 metric tonnes annually. It is mainly gaining fame for its Arabica coffee, which accounts for approximately 70 per cent of all production in the country, with the remaining 30 per cent coming from the Robusta variety.
Furthermore, Tanzania’s coffee is increasingly earning itself a name globally for its specialty offerings. The planting, harvesting, and processing of its coffee beans not only bring fame but also much-needed foreign exchange.
In the 2022/23 financial year, Tanzania enjoyed a bumper harvest that earned the economy an impressive $238 million. Currently, coffee is the country’s largest cash crop and provides a steady income for over 400,000 households.
In comparison, in 2021, the country exported $187 million worth of beans, with the main destinations being Japan ($46.1 million), Germany ($34 million), Italy ($19.6 million), the United States ($11.4 million), and Morocco ($10.3 million).
“Tanzania did well in the 2022/2023 coffee season. The country hit a new record, producing 81,498 metric tonnes of coffee – the most since independence,” writes Preuss.
Tanzania is now the continent’s fourth-largest coffee produccollege football jerseys black friday wig sale custom dallas stars jersey keyvone lee jersey borsa prima classe jock strap jordan proto max 720 uberlube luxury lubricant adidas yeezy boost 350 turtle dove custom sublimated hockey jerseys air max 270 women keyvone lee jersey jordan max aura 4 custom dallas stars jersey best human hair wigs for black females er after Ethiopia, Uganda, and Côte d’Ivoire. The country also ranks an impressive 14th on the list of top coffee-producing countries worldwide.
According to the Tanzania Coffee Board, the country expects a 13 percent increase in production for the 2023/2024 season.
Tanzania’s coffee output set to increase
“Coffee production in Tanzania is expected to increase by more than 20 per cent in the market year 2023/24 due to improved weather conditions and fruitfulness from coffee plants introduced by the government in 2018,” reports USDA Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) report on the Tanzanian coffee sector.
The report notes that “with the increased green coffee supplies, exports of Tanzanian coffees are expected to increase approximately 13 per cent to 1.27 million bags, representing approximately 94 per cent of the annual production volume.”
Tanzania exports its coffee mainly to Japan, Italy, the United States, Germany, Russia, Morocco, and Australia.
“Sublime, fruit-forward single-origin beans and Tanzania Peaberry coffee with fruity, chocolaty undertones and mellow acidity…the stuff for top-price coffee,” notes Preuss.
Tanzania’s coffee has what experts describe as intricate flavors and rich aromas, which fetch a high price in the world market. Coffee from the East African country is rated AA-quality, the best of the best.
While Tanzanian coffee is gaining world fame, its history dates back to the 16th Century. Historically, the Haya tribe of Northwest Tanzania is said to have been brewing indigenous Robusta cherries and chewing them as a stimulant.
Years later, when the Omani Sultanate took control of Zanzibar in 1698, they introduced their rich coffee-drinking tradition, further developing coffee production in Tanzania.
Later came the Germans, who also developed the industry, and finally, the British took over and further developed coffee production in the country. Since its independence in 1961, the government of Tanzania has been responsible for developing the coffee industry.
Analysts argue that this may be a setback in Tanzania’s coffee industry growth. According to the experts, since the government runs the industry, farmers do not have direct access to the end-user market.
“Consequently, coffee farmers can no longer engage in direct trade, which isn’t good. I hope this policy changes in the future to give coffee farmers greater opportunities and freedom to seek out new markets and earn a better income through direct trading,” suggests the coffee expert.
In Tanzania, coffee farmers are required by the law to sell their coffee to cooperatives mandated to export it.
Independent coffee farmers obtain licenses from the Tanzanian Coffee Board. The board’s role involves regulating the industry and advising the government. The board also oversees quality control, coffee grading, and auctioning.
Read also: How Tanzania’s telecom sector is poised to drive economic growth
Tanzania investing heavy in coffee production
Recently, the Mara Regional Commissioner, Mr. Said Mtanda, called on farmers to increase coffee farming to supply the region’s newly opened coffee processing plant. The new coffee processing factory is an investment by the farmers’ cooperative union in the region (WAMACU).
WAMACU Manager, Mr. Samwel Gisiboye, notes that the factory has a processing capacity of five to twelve tonnes per day.
He reassured farmers that the cooperative had already secured coffee markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
“Coffee markets are almost everywhere globally; grabbing them is a cross-cutting issue. Our factory became operational in December last year, exporting only coffee beans. We do expect to go for final coffee processing in the near future,” the Manager told the media at the factory launch.
The government of Tanzania has now embarked on a program to intensify coffee seedling production and free distribution. As part of this program, the government is encouraging investors, through their Corporate Social Responsibility policies, to purchase and distribute free coffee seedlings and farm inputs to coffee farmers.
The Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TACRI) reports that the Tanzanian government is relentlessly pursuing its 2021-2025 coffee development strategy. According to TACRI, the goal is to provide some 20 million new coffee seedlings to farmers annually across the country.
At the moment, coffee generates approximately 5 per cent of the country’s export revenue, earning an average of about $100 million, except for the 2022/23 bumper harvest. The sector employs 6 per cent of the population, representing about 2.4 million people directly and indirectly.
“Many of those employed in coffee are the 450,000 smallholders responsible for more than 90 per cent of Tanzania’s 30,000 to 40,000 metric tons of coffee produced annually,” notes SUCAFINA, a coffee review site, which also points out that these farmers cultivate plots between 0.5 to 3 hectares.
“The remaining 10 per cent of total production is grown by larger estates found in the Arusha, Kilimanjaro, and Mbeya regions,” expound the analysts.
While the government is working to increase the supply of coffee seedlings, it is also essential to consider empowering the farmers with financial backing for farming inputs and protecting them from price-setting cartels. Without these interventions, small-scale farmers will continue to suffer while the global coffee market grows.
