Agri-Business 

Sunday, May 10, 2015 

Tanzania seeks expertise on coffee yields

MWANZA, Tanzania - Arabica coffee yields are declining in Tanzania’s Highlands region due to climate change according to a new report made public last week. 

“Coffee yields have declined to their lowest point in years, with many farmers in Tanzania giving up on coffee completely,” Alessandro Craparo, the main author of the study said.

This has prompted the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) to shop around for consultants in the private and public sector to turnaround the situation. Arabica coffee is the choice variety while Robusta is used more for blending.

The consultations also would assess the current regulatory framework and its legal implications and applications in the development of the sector.

TCB would also develop national coffee agronomy guidelines, scale - up farmer education and training, build industry information database, put in place price information and strengthen the capacity of producers’ organizations.  

This is contained in a 10-year TCB’s Tanzania Coffee Industry Development Strategy up to 2021.

The study titled  ‘Coffea Arabica yields decline in Tanzania due to climate change: Global implications’,  was jointly published last month by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, and the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

The three main Arabica growing regions are in the North/Kilimanjaro (600km), Mbeya  and the Matengo Highlands Mbinga. 

Other Arabica areas include the Usambara Mountains, Iringa , Morogoro, Kigoma  and Ngara. 

Robusta coffee is grown mainly in the Kagera region around Bukoba in the far west of the country

More than 90% of Tanzania’s coffee is produced by about 400,000 smallholder farmers.  

The study shows that during the last 49 years, there has been an increase in night temperatures which has led to Arabica yield decrease of 195 kg/hectare whereas losses to smallholders in the region reach 46%.  

The sensitive Coffea Arabica berries need low temperatures to grow well and produce high quality coffee for consumption.

This is why they are best suited to the cool tropical highlands of East Africa, typically between 1000 - 2300 metres above sea level. 

By Andrew Zablon, Sunday, May 10th, 2015