Videos: Improved Coffee Varieties in Tanzania

Coffee is Tanzania’s largest export crop and most of the beans that leave the country are grown by smallholder farmers. But since the 1990s, coffee output has declined largely due to a series of diseases that slashed yields, increased operating costs for farmers and saw quality and coffee prices tumble. Coffee growing became an unprofitable business. But all that started to change when the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI) began operations in 2001, supported by the EU. To learn about the project and its impact, see our Voices & Views article: New Resistant Coffee Varieties Developed with EU Support. To learn more from the interviewees, watch the videos below:

Tanzanian coffee farmers Dida and Frida Mallya explain the advantages of the new coffee varieties developed by TaCRI which they have planted on their land:

Jeremiah Magesa from TaCRI explains seed multiplication techniques:

Jeremiah Magesa from TaCRI explains as seedlings are loaded into a truck for distribution and planting:

Staff from TaCRI show how to multiply new coffee varieties, pollinated plants by hand:

Staff from TaCRI give an overview of the lab facilities: