Browsing: Coffee

Tanzania's coffee production
  • 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…

Black gold runs the world and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni seems to have struck his long-coveted oil pipeline deal with Tanzania.

In the wake of his November state visit to Tanzania, the $3.5 billion deal is heading in the right direction.

However, this article is about another black gold, not crude oil, no, our topic of discourse is another prime foreign exchange earner for Uganda; the sweet aroma filled and much-coveted Robusta coffee, a $657 annual earner for Uganda.

Granted it’s but a fraction of what the oil deal will earn the country but coffee earnings represent much bigger financial inclusion for the Ugandan people than any oil deal ever will.

Here is why. Coffee farming directly employs over 1.7 million Ugandans who produce close to 6 million bags. Actually, Uganda produces 6% of global Robusta and 1% of the world’s Arabica coffee. Put together, coffee brings 18% of all …

The aflatoxins have also been found in processed foods such as peanut butter and in animal-sourced foods like egg and milk.…

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Once upon a time in Kenya, tea and coffee were the big players, the rulers of the country’s agribusiness the top foreign exchange earners.

However with time passing the crops contribution to annual earnings kept falling, because the farmers were simply not getting paid in time. The peasants’ payment was little and delayed.

As a result, production and quality of the coffee and tea out remained poor and could not earn the country its potential income from the sector.

Now the government has set aside USD15 million to revitalize the sector. The funding is from the World Bank which is meant to compliment another USD30 million that Kenya set aside back in January.

What is to be learnt here is not just the will to revitalize the coffee and tea sectors but also the willingness to admit what the problem was in the first place, slow and low payment of …

The premier global event for coffee, tea and chocolate enthusiasts, the Coffee, Tea and Chocolate Festival (CTC Festival) is set to be held in Kenya this year.

Dubbed The Journey of Taste, the festival to be held in March 2019 in Nairobi, celebrates in one location the burgeoning of speciality coffees, ergonomic tea selection and chocolate lifecycle.

It is expected to bring more than 40,000 people together in one venue to explore private training, innovation labs, interactive workshops and live stage shows among many other activities.

World Barista Champions, producers

Kenya is the first African country to host this world-class festival.

“We are excited to be showcasing to local, regional and global players and visitors, the variety that is offered by Kenya, in terms of coffee and tea,” says Obed Mutua, General Manager of Four and One Worldwide Kenya.

He added, “Participants will get the chance to meet world Barista …

The country`s coffee production is projected to dwindle by 23 per cent in the 2019-2020 season.

Africa`s fourth biggest coffee producer, Tanzania said the overall production in coffee would drop by 23 per cent in the next period due to delayed rainfall in the Northern regions, according to the Tanzania Coffee Board.

The crop for the season that starts in July may decline to 50,000 tonnes, the Tanzania Coffee Board stated on Monday 13th May, 2019 in a statement. It said last month that the country had experienced dryness in many growing areas, and that farmers would start collecting crops in May in the Kagera and Mara regions of the country.

After missing earlier targets to boost production, the country is considering distributing seedlings to farmers in an effort to double supply in five years. Arabica coffee accounts for more than half of Tanzania`s output, and it mainly ships …

In a recent statement by the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB), Tanzania earned Tshs.180 billion ($79 million) from the sale of over 65,000 tonnes of coffee collected in the 2018/2019 crop season.

The board Director General, Primus Kimaryo said 40,940 tonnes of coffee were sold through the TCB Coffee Exchange, with the remaining 24,583 sold through Direct Coffee Export. Robusta dominated the direct export with 19,399 tonnes constituting 78.9 per cent while 5,183 tonnes of Arabica coffee made 21.1 per cent of the consignment.

Mr. Kimaryo said that although coffee production during the 2018/2019 season was 65,000 tonnes, an increase of 30 per cent from the previous year`s 50,000 tonnes, prices in the world market were not favourable to farmers.

He challenged farmers from across the country to put more emphasis on the production of high quality coffee to fetch good prices on the world market in the future seasons.

Outlining …