The Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB), a government organ mandated to regulate the coffee industry in the East African nation, said it has started taking measures aimed at boosting the production of the crop.
TCB aims at raising production from the current 70,000 tons annually to 300,000 tons, annually, by 2025.
Aurelia Kamuzora, the TCB board of director’s chairman, said the board was working with coffee stakeholders in the country to ensure that the target of 300,000 tons by 2025 is achieved.
Speaking at the climax of a three-day coffee festival in Tanzania’s northern municipality of Moshi on the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, Kamuzora said the board has already started increasing the availability of coffee seedlings in large quantities for coffee growers.
Adolf Mkenda, the Minister for Agriculture, said the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI) has already shown success in producing coffee seeds that can withstand drought conditions.
Mkenda called on financial institutions to support the government in efforts aimed at boosting the production of the cash crop.
Last April, President Samia Suluhu Hassan, directed the Ministry of Agriculture to increase the production of strategic crops, including coffee, to enable the country to earn the much needed foreign currency through exports. (Xinhua/NAN)
