Coffee production in Tanzania
[7] The Germans introduced various laws that reduced the control of tribal leaders over the cultivation of the crop and the coffee seeds were made widely available.
Due to the abolishing of slavery tribal chiefs that relied on the trade for income such as the Chagga tribe, entirely switched to cultivating the Coffee beans.
[8] After World War I when the British took over Tanganyika they further accelerated the campaign to grow coffee in the region and introduced various land reform laws.
The British also continued to receive resistance from the Haya people and coffee production in the north-west region remained stagnant.
Furthermore, large governmental estates were created in the southern part of the country namely in Mbozi and Mbinga regions.
Most of the cooperatives failed and the mass movement of the population due to Ujamaa in the early 1970s hampered production.
The coffee production in the country suffered drastically due to major governmental interventions and high cost of growing.
[10] Due to the country's colonial past, Tanzania opted for British nomenclature of grading Coffee, which is done according to shape, size and density of the beans.
This policy was created by the Coffee Board of Tanzania to allow farmers and local companies to build a long-term relationship with international buyers.
More than 90% of the country's output originates from small farmers rather than estates and provides employment to 40,000 families and affect more than 2.4 million citizens directly.
Germany used to be the largest purchaser of Tanzanian coffee however with increased marketing and better quality control, Japan and the United States have begun to buy the lion share of the exports.
This major step forward in the Japanese market has caused for an appreciation in value for Tanzanian coffee in the country and today Japan is the highest importer of the bean.
[12] The Tanzania Coffee Research Institute was founded in 2000 as a non-profit government company and began operations in September 2001.
The company is a non profit and is entirely reliant on government funding, donors and the sale of farming materials and tools.
