The Tanzanian government recently announced that they planned to increase the production of coffee over the next year, including the production of high-quality hybrid seeds.
During the same time, the country wanted to increase production to 70,000 tonnes of coffee, Adolf Mkenda, the Minister of Agriculture said. This would be almost doubling the existing export quantity for the crop.
He went to say they would, through the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI) construct two new research centres in Kigoma and Mara, and that he had tasked the Tanzanian Coffee Board (TCB) with producing and distributing 20million hybrid seeds across 30 coffee-growing districts.
The TCB will also establish 40 coffee demonstration farms across 20 districts and establish 10 large coffee plantations in 10 districts.
The question of climate change also entered the agenda, which Mkenda said the TaCRI will conduct research on the impact analysis studies.
Tanzania is not a large exporter of coffee and is ranked 24th in the world of production. However, it is an important crop to the country, forming their largest export crop. About 30% of the crop grown is Robusta, and 70% is Arabica. Typically, the country produces 30-40,000 tonnes a year and employs around 270,000 people.
