Abstract
Coffee is one among the important traditional export crops in Tanzania, contributing to foreign exchange earnings as well as GDP. It is estimated that 400,000 families depend on coffee-related activities for their livelihood. Although its contribution in the world market is minimal, Arabica coffee beans from Tanzania are of high quality. This paper attempts to explore the coffee industry in Tanzania and its challenges. Data were collected from Tanzania Coffee Board, Japanese Specialty Coffee Association Exhibitions, as well as interviews with the Head of Suntory Beverage Department in Tokyo, Japan. The findings indicated that weak policies have resulted in an unstable situation in the domestic marketing scenario, leading to weak cooperatives, poor quality coffee, and failure to attain specialty coffee from Tanzania. In addition, no efforts have been made to develop an international market brand name for Kilimanjaro coffee, which is famous in the world market for its good taste and aroma. Consequently, there are many brands of Kilimanjaro coffee in Tanzanian and Japanese markets that confuse the market about their originality. Based on these findings, it is recommended that farmers’ organisations should be empowered to play their expected role in the coffee production and subsequent marketing.
Recommended Citation
Mhando, David Gongwe DGM
(2014)
"Unstable Local Producer’s Institutions and Failure to Utilize Competitive Factor: The Case of Tanzania’s Coffee Industry,"
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences: Vol. 3
:
No.
2
, Article 4.
Available at: https://doi.org/vlm3/1&2/05
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