AfricaPress-Tanzania: COFFEE annual production in the country has increased from 51,777 tonnes to 214,962 tonnes, a move that has helped to increase foreign currency.
That was said here yesterday by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Japhet Hasunga, while giving briefs on the achievements of the fifth phase government, further noting that the increased production has helped the country to garner 1.195tn/-as benefit.
He said the sector registered the improvements following the fifth phase government strong strategies in place, adding: “The bumper harvest has helped to fetch foreign currency amounting to 427.9m US Dollars within the past four years under President John Magufuli’s reign.”
In a related development, the Minister pointed out that the government has embarked on an exercise to register coffee farmers in the country, where so far, 286,397 of them have been registered.
He said the exercise was ongoing in 16 coffee growing regions in the country, and identified 101 large-scale farmers, who are capable of cultivating the crop in vast plots.
On employment, the Minister, said coffee agriculture has provided at least 2.7 million people with self-employment, adding that previously the subsector employed only 2.3 million residents.
Mr Hasunga further explained that coffee farming has made significant contributions in the growth of the country’s economy, where about 554 processing factories exist.
Equally, he took the occasion to commend President John Magufuli for mobilizing regional leaders to set up local industries, noting that the number of factories have risen up and creating job opportunities to many locals.
He said in a bid to create conducive environment for the business and agriculture to further grow, the government scrapped a number of levies in agriculture and industries, citing at least 19 levies, which have been slashed in the crop production sector.
Meanwhile, the Minister added that Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI) has conducted research on 19 Arabica coffee seeds, whose findings show that the seeds are adaptive to the country’s soil.
