Café Africa Tanzania established 2009

The coffee sector in Tanzania

About 90% of coffee production in Tanzania comes from about 320,000 small coffee farmers with an average of 200 coffee trees and a farm size of 0.5 – 2 acres. The remaining percentage of coffee is produced by 101 registered coffee plantations. According to the Tanzania District Coffee Profile (2018-2019), there are approximately 191,500 hectares under coffee production in 52 thriving districts.  The profile also shows that the country has approximately 741,895 hectares of land with great potential for the expansion of coffee production, in the districts that grow crops as well as those that do not.  (Source:  Tanzania Coffee Board)

For the small-holder farmer, coffee has in the past been a mainstay of household income, permitting the payment of school fees, medical charges, and the other needs of the household. With the declining fertility of the soil, lower yields, and the low prices of the early 2000’s, coffee lost much of its attraction for producers. However it is a crop which can still provide the main source of revenue for households, if it is well cultivated. Tanzania produces some of the finest mild arabica coffees in the world. These come from the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in the North, as well as the Mbeya and Mbinga Districts in the South. Primary processing is a key to producing top quality coffee, and the private sector has invested in coffee washing stations in recent years. There is also a volume of good quality robusta grown in Kagera and Karagwe Districts on the Western shores of Lake Victoria. There have been many projects working in the Tanzania coffee sector, but it was estimated they have reached less than 40% of farmers.

Café Africa’s achievements and recent projects

Working to Improve Coffee Production

Since its establishment in 2009, Café Africa Tanzania (CATZ) has been working towards increasing coffee production in Tanzania, with the ultimate purpose of improving the livelihoods of smallscale coffee farmers.

To reach its objectives, the organisation forged a strong collaboration with both public and private stakeholders in the coffee sector. It uses an evidence-based approach through multistakeholder engagement. Its work has included the following:

• Over a decade of uninterrupted support and engagement with the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) in organizing the National Coffee Conference (NCC) including the transition to virtual platforms during the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020.
• Serving in the Secretariat of the National Coffee Steering Committee (NCSC).
• The development of updated Coffee Profiles for 52 coffee producing districts. This facilitates evidence-based interventions.
• Supporting TCB in the development of the National Strategy for the Development of the Coffee Industry (both in the 2011- 2021 plan and the follow-up strategy for the period from 2020 to 2025).
• A member of the Management Committee of the Tanzania Coffee Association since 2010 and supporting its secretariat, e.g. assisting in drafting meeting minutes.
• Member of the Agricultural Non- State Actors’ Forum (ANSAF) since 2011.

Since April 2020, CATZ has been registered as a non-governmental organization (NGO).

Sustainable Rejuvenation of Robusta Coffee Production in Kagera, 2019-2024

Café Africa successfully coordinated this 5-year project, funded by JDE Peet’s, which originally aimed to give 22,250 farmers in the Kagera region the skills and knowledge to produce good quality coffee for the long term.  Such has been the success of the project that more than 32,000 farmers were actually reached.

Training of Trainers and Extension Officers, encouragement of youth involvement and the participation of women, have been essential components of the project.  The project contributed to significantly increased coffee production in the Kagera region along with higher prices, and was referenced by the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) at the National Coffee Conference, 2023.

The strength of the project has been its drawing together of the experiences and resources of all the project partners: JDE Peet’s, the KCU and KDCU Cooperative Unions and their members, Kagera Regional Government and Local Government Authorities/District Councils, Ngara farmers, the Regional Authority, the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB), the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI) and the private sector.

Coffee Development Project (CODE-P) in Southern Tanzania, 2020-2024

Café Africa was one of five partners which developed this successful project to a) strengthen smallholder coffee cooperatives and b) strengthen the competitiveness of smallholder coffee farmers (SHFs), in three regions of southern Tanzania: Ruvuma, Mbeya and Songwe (two districts in each region).

Training cooperatives and smallholder farmers in areas such as bulking, processing and value addition technologies; rehabilitation of Central Pulping Units, and involving young farmers  through the creation and training of youth teams, were all essential aspects of CODE-P, thereby promoting investment and job creation along the coffee value chain.

The project was funded by the EU and the Swedish Development Agency and saw improvements in the quality of coffee (AA, A grades) and average price paid for Arabica.  It contributed to increased coffee exports in the targeted areas and reached over 24,700 SHFs.

National Sustainability Curriculum Update

The National Sustainability Curriculum (NSC) – first published in 2015 – is a set of agreed guidelines on good agricultural and sustainability practices, used for the effective delivery of extension services to farmers.

Café Africa Tanzania brought together public and private coffee stakeholders to agree updates to the NSC, incorporating globally recognised sustainability practices adapted to the local context. Funding for the one-year project was provided by Partnerships for Forests (P4F) through the Global Coffee Platform. The updated NSC was launched by the government during the 13th National Coffee Conference in June 2023.

Reducing GHG (Green House Gas) Emissions and and Increasing Yields from Robusta Coffee Production by 7,000 SHFs and Processors

CATZ developed training materials in Swahili, and conducted Training of Trainers in the use of these materials, as part of a project to raise farmers’ awareness of, and provide skills for, climate-smart coffee production. The project was funded by 4C Services, JDE Peet’s and the German Development Corporation (DEG and BMZ) develoPPP programme.