A worker picks coffee beans at a coffee plantation in Moshi, Tanzania, Nov. 5, 2021. (Photo by Cao Jingmin/Xinhua)
Tanzania Coffee Board says it will distribute 3 million Robusta coffee seedlings to farmers free of charge in an effort to boost production of the cash crop in the East African nation.
DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- State-run Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said Sunday that it would distribute 3 million Robusta coffee seedlings to farmers free of charge to boost production of the cash crop.
Priscus Kimaryo, the acting director general of TCB, said all preparations for the distribution of the seedlings have been made, noting that the seedlings will be distributed to coffee growers in Kagera region in the northwest of the country.
"The distribution of the Robusta coffee seedlings will be launched next week in Karenge village in Kyerwa district," said Kimaryo. He stressed the main reason behind the distribution of the seedlings free of charge was to boost the production of the cash crop.
The file photo shows a farmer displaying a handful of fresh coffee beans in Arusha Region, Tanzania, Sept 15, 2020. Arusha Region is a major coffee-growing area in Tanzania. (Xinhua)
Coffee is grown in 17 regions of Tanzania's mainland.
According to the TCB statistics, coffee production in Tanzania in the past years averaged 50,000 tonnes annually but efforts made by the government resulted in an increase in coffee production to 73,022 tonnes in the 2020/2021 coffee harvesting season.
Kagera region leads in the production of Robusta coffee which accounts for a total of 30 percent to 40 percent of all the coffee produced countrywide while Ruvuma and Songwe regions lead with Arabica coffee production accounting for 44 percent of all the coffee produced in the country. ■
