AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) has said it will support the Lake Zone coffee growers in their quest for deploying new technologies and production methods.
The TADB Managing Director, Japhet Justine said recently in Dar es Salaam that farmers’ pursuit for appropriate technologies and production methods were in line with the bank obligations and commitments.
He was speaking on a topic dubbed as ‘lessons from Mwalimu Nyerere’, and the bank said Mwalimu was a great lover of agriculture and farmers.
He said in its first phase of its coffee promotion programme in the Lake zone, the bank helped to establish an efficient and transparent marketing system for coffee, by pumping into the zone some 189.5bn/- benefiting 124,382 coffee farmers.
“With this market incentive in place, the second phase of TADB’s coffee project will focus on facilitating production and productivity gains by aiding farmers’ adoption of modern technologies and methods of production. This will be coupled with enhancing the vertical integration of the coffee supply chain to allow farmers to have greater control of downstream segments of the chain including processing and value addition,” he said.
The MD said the Lake zone was one of Tanzania’s important coffee growing areas, producing important food and cash crops, livestock and fisheries products.
Mr Justine said the bank has evidence that Tanzania had the potential of increasing her coffee yield threefold using the same area under cultivation.
“At varying degrees, the same is true for a multitude of other crops and livestock produce. To achieve these great feats, farmers ought to be supported to adopt productivity enhancing technologies and a range of support services to transform their activities to actual business undertakings,” he told the audience.
