TCB Launches ‘TukTuk’ Coffee Mobile Shops To Bolster Consumption
The Director General of the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB), Mr Primus Kimaryo
By Senior Reporter, VALENTINE OFORO
THE Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) has launched a special project for the dispensation of coffee drinking services through tailor -made TukTuk mobile cafe across the country.
The mobile coffee drinking cafeterias service launched by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa at the ongoing 31st Tanzania Agricultural International Exhibitions in Dodoma Capital City focuses to heighten coffee consumption in the country.
Through the robust initiative under TCB in sync with various financial institutions, the youth are loaned the TukTuk installed with the fully modern facilities for the production of different blended hot coffees.
Briefing this publication shortly after launching of the vital health-leisure service, the Director General (DG) of the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB), Mr. Primus Kimaryo said the focus behind the strategy was to improve local coffee consumption from currently seven to at least 15 percent.
Apart from elevating coffee consumption, the target is also to create a useful economic podium to attract the youth in the country to involve and benefit from the sector.
As per the project’s setting up, after receiving the coffee TukTuk loans, the beneficiary youth will have to refund the involving money within three years of their coffee business operations, according to him.
And he informed, one equipped coffee TukTuk worth around 30m/-, and after fully refunding the loan, the mobile coffee shops TukTuk will remain at total ownership of the youths.
“As a pilot project, we’re planning to start with at least 100 coffee TukTuk, whereby the number will expand in the near future,” he unveiled.
The TCB Chief Boss, Mr. Kimaryo urged the interested local youth to turn out in great number to grab the available prestigious economic niches.
“To qualify for the economic slots, a youth must be a good licensed TukTuk driver with enthusiasm and awareness pertaining to coffee business,” he unveiled.
He observed that the state- owned board, TCB, will continue designing and introducing a series of strategies to help pushing- up coffee consumption across the country.
Relevant records depict that local consumption of coffee is nearly not as large as the export volume.
Due to financial constraints, coffee is more expensive than tea in Tanzania and the populace consumes more tea.
However, dwelling over the sector’s general performance, Mr Kimaryo expressed the sector has successfully managed to register a significant growth in a period of five years, with markets and the prices of the economic cash crop continues to stabilising.
For instance, he briefed, during a period from 2020/21 harvesting season to 2022/23, coffee production improved from 66,837 tons to at least 82,491 tons.
He said the thriving, of at least 23.4 percent in the production of the tree economic crop was a major milestone, given the fact that Tanzania has never experienced such impressive development in the sector since the country’s independence.
Giving further successes, Mr. Kimaryo detailed that coffee seedlings production also witnessed a sartisfying upward trend, the vital development which so far enabled the farmers to scale up their production levels.
“During 2019/2020 season, production of coffee seedlings was at 7,059,836 whereby in 2020/21 the amount increased to 11, 388,474 seedlings,” he added.
Due to mutual cooperation between TCB and the seed Institutes from the public and private sector, he said during 2021/23 and 2022/23 seasons the seedlings production catapulted from 14,116,173 to 17,866,980 respectively.
He said in recent years, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture has worked to strengthen coffee markets systems and prices, the development which has resulted into an increase in the prices of the crop among the growers at the local markets from 1,300/- per Kg from 2022/2022 season to 2,000/-.
Despite attained the encouraging development, Mr. Kimaryo however expressed that several handicaps were haunting the sector from growing at needed pace.
He itemised the challenges as poor adoption of needed agronomic practices among most of the coffee growers as well as failure to apply proper fertilizers, among others.
“Severe effects of climate change are also affecting the smooth metamorphosis of the sector, but also, some of the farmers are maintaining oldest coffee plants in their farms, leading to poor yields,” he noted.
To help contain the challenges, the Director said TCB, in cooperation with other stakeholders was planning to implement a series of helpful strategies.
“Plans are a foot to embark on a robust program for the production of more than 20million coffee seedlings to sartisfy farmers demand and enabling them to further expand their production scopes,” he said.
Approximately, the demand for coffee seedlings in the country is between 50 to 60 million coffee seedlings per year, but the county’s current capacity is to produce only 20 million coffee seedlings per year.
Together with that, he added that the Board will soon start to executive a special program to impart the extension officers with knowledge over the recommended practices in growing the crop, being efforts to improve extension services to the farmers across the country.
Tanzania stands among the best coffee producers in the world, producing one of the best coffee varieties in the world like Colombian Mild.
Among the countries that often go for the Tanzania’s coffee, and their purchasing levels in the brackets include USA (5 percent), Moroco (5pc), South Africa (3pc), Sweeden (2pc), Russia (2pc), Italy (13pc), Belgium (8pc), Germany (13pc), and Japan 29 pc, to mention but a few.
Tanzania Coffee Board is a government organ established by the Tanzania Coffee Industry Act No. 23 of 2001. Its main function is to regulate the coffee industry in Tanzania and advise the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania on all matters related to the growing, processing and marketing of coffee within and outside the country.
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