Coffe Production in Tanzania

Tanzanian Arabica coffees are currently largely grown in the Southern Highlands Ruvuma, Songwe and Mbeya regions where coffee is both intercropped with bananas and some areas are pure stand alone. Ruvuma regions – Mbinga District leads in production of Arabica coffee which produce 16,104 tons, Songwe region which produce 10,996 tons followed by those from slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru in the Northern areas, which are under the shade of banana trees, truly an exotic location for this east African coffee. Arabica coffee makes up to 70% of total country production. Robusta coffee is grown in the western areas along Lake Victoria in Kagera region. This constitutes 30% of the total coffee production in Tanzania.

AREA UNDER COFFEE
It is estimated that total area under coffee is 265,000 hectares for both Arabica and robusta.

ALTITUDE
Robusta – 800 to 900 masl
Arabica - 1,000 to 2,500 masl

PRODUCTION
The GOT continues to implement its strategic plan (2011-2021), by supporting coffee production expansion programs that involves increasing productivity in existing farms and facilitating the private sector to develop new farms. According to the plan area under coffee will be increased by at least 10,000 hectares by the year 2021. In the MY 2015/2016, FAS forecasts a record production of 1.2 million bags contributed mainly by production in newly matured farms and the peaking of the biennial coffee production cycle. Erratic weather, due to climate change remains an underlying threat to sustainable coffee production in Tanzania.

HARVESTING PERIOD (MAIN CROP)
North: July – December
Southern: July –December
Western: May – October

DRY PROCESSING
Tanzania opted for British nomenclature of grading which is done according to shape, size and density. These grades includes; AA, AB, PB, C, E, F, AF, TT, UG and TEX