The Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI) announced it has developed four drought resistant coffee varieties.
Seeds of the newly-discovered Arabica varieties will be released to the farmers during the coming 2023/24 cultivation season.
This was revealed on Monday by an agronomist with the institute, Nuhu Aman, saying the discovery was among efforts underway to improve productivity.
“Development of drought resistant varieties is also aimed to mitigate against the impact of climate change,” he told journalists.
The varieties are in the process of being certified by the Tanzania Official Certification Institute (Tosci).
“They will later be deployed to the farmers in the coffee growing zones which are most affected by drought conditions,” he said.
23 coffee varieties resistant to disease and drought
TaCRI has in recent years released 23 improved varieties of coffee, not only those which are resistant to drought but also diseases.
Mr Aman assured coffee growers in areas often hit by insufficient rains that they should no longer panic of reduced yields with the introduction of the new varieties.
A laboratory expert with TaCRI, Epafra Mosi, said soil fertility was also key for higher productivity of coffee, one of the leading export crops.
He regretted that most farmers were not aware of that, often leading to poor harvests due to failure to use the recommenced fertilizers.
He said soil fertility has been going down in many coffee growing areas because of poor agronomic practices.
Relief to farmers
A coffee farmer from Rombo District in Kilimanjaro Region, Monica Matemu, said discovery of the new varieties would be a relief for them. Shortage of inputs such as fertilizers, has fuelled the problem.
For decades since the 1960s, coffee production in Tanzania has hovered around 50,000 annually, at one time reaching the 60,000 tonne peak.
Production picked up in recent years following a number of reforms, reaching a record 85,000 tonnes last year, according to the Tanania Coffee Board (TCB).
According to the Moshi-based board, coffee production in Tanzania picked up in volumes in the past three years because of improved productivity and quality control, among others.
Coffee production in Tanzania
Coffee production in Tanzania increased since 2019/2020, when the output was 1.25 million bags. This amount surged to 1.35 million bags in 2020/2021.
A large share of the crop is arabica coffee grown using diverse farm systems, including pure stand/smallholder, intercropped and bananas/smallholder, and estate coffee production.
The uptrend in production on Tanzania’s total coffee farming land area of 265,000 hectares gained momentum from domestic reforms and international demand.
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