New coffee plant varieties in Tanzania to boost production by 20%

TANZANIA – Coffee production in Tanzania is expected to increase by more than 20% in the market year 2023/24 thanks to high-yielding varieties introduced by the government some five years ago.

As a result, exports of Tanzanian coffees are expected to increase by approximately 13% to 1.27 million bags, representing approximately 94% of the annual production volume, according to the most recent USDA Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) report.

The report details that Tanzania’s top coffee export markets are, in order of volume: The EU, Japan, the United States, Morocco, Russia, South Korea, India, Australia, and South Africa.

“In 2018, the Government of Tanzania (GoT) supported distribution of high-yielding Arabica coffee seedlings which replaced older varieties in existing plantations,” the Tanzanian local news sources stated.

“These seedlings have since matured and are poised to enter the highest-yielding period of their three-year cycle.”

 USDA says the Tanzanian government continues to implement its 2021-2025 coffee development strategy with a set goal of providing 20 million new seedlings to farmers every year.

 Coffee seedlings are primarily supplied by the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TACRI); however, the distribution of seedlings through the institute has historically been constrained due to a lack of funding for seedling production.

According to Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) managing director Primus Kimaryo  between nine to eleven million coffee tree seedlings will be distributed to the farmers by September this year to sustain production.

Country-wide, the amount of planted area remains largely the same, as new seedlings are replacing aging trees in both arabica and robusta-producing regions.

Recovery from drought conditions, combined with the highest production period in the natural cycle of new arabica trees, is driving the production spike, according to the FAS report. 

According to the FAS, coffee is Tanzania’s most important cash crop, contributing to the incomes of 6-7% of the population with small-scale coffee farmers accounting for approximately 90% of the country’s green coffee production.

 “In general, inefficient use of farming inputs such as fertilizer, poor agricultural practices, and limited credit access hinders coffee productivity in Tanzania,” per the FAS report.

 At the start of June, the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) managing director Primus Kimaryo quoted by The Citizen, revealed that Tanzania coffee exports earned the economy US$231 million (about TZS440.5billion) in a record sale since independence.

A total of 81,498 tonnes of beans were exported during the 2022/23 season, following a rise in production during the period.

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