Coffee stakeholders urged to embrace digital technology
KILIMANJARO: GOVERNMENT support and leaders’ commitment to improving agriculture sector have boosted coffee production and increased farmers’ incomes and national revenue in recent years.
Speaking during the opening of the seventh Kahawa Festival which was held in Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region, over the weekend, Mwanga District Commissioner, Hassan Bomboko said the government has played a big role in ensuring the improvement of coffee production in the country.
“Government’s policies and leaders political will have contributed greatly to increase coffee production, the government has been doing everything in its power to mobilise farmers to engage in coffee farming, something which led to a significant increase in the production of the cash crop in the country”, said Bomboko who represented the Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner (RC) Nurdin Babu during the event.
According to him, coffee production in the country has increased to 85,000 tonnes from 67,000 tonnes which was produced five years ago.
“The main task ahead is for the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB), the country’s coffee regulator, to continue collaborating with other coffee stakeholders to ensure that the trend of increasing coffee production continues so that the goal of producing 300,000 tonnes of coffee in the country by 2030 can be achieved”, he said.
Mr Bomboko urged stakeholders in the coffee sector to embrace modern technology in production and across the entire value chain to improve efficiency and strengthen the crop’s contribution to the national economy.
“Digital technology, from consumers and online retailers to farm managers using digital tools, will play a vital role in modernising and expanding the country’s coffee sector,” he said.
He added that digital communication channels would help coffee stakeholders, including cooperatives, bridge information gaps, empower smallholder farmers and build trust across specialty coffee networks.
Speaking at the event, Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) Board Chairperson, Professor Aurelia Kamuzora said the board continued to collaborate with other stakeholders to promote Tanzania’s coffee brand and expand its presence in international markets as production increased.
She said digital solutions, including mobile money, digital traceability systems and online platforms, had transformed coffee trading by replacing cash-based processes with faster, more transparent and compliant transactions.
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Professor Kamuzora added that these technologies had strengthened farmers’ confidence in the sector and encouraged greater participation, particularly among young people.
Earlier, Kahawa Festival Organising Committee Chairperson, Denis Mahulu said the annual event was part of the celebrations marking World Coffee Day, observed internationally on October 1 each year.
He said the festival recognised farmers who grow coffee and entrepreneurs who transform it into a wide range of products through value addition.
Mr Mahulu added that the seventh edition brought together farmers, processors, equipment suppliers and international coffee buyers to showcase modern manufacturing and packaging machinery, agricultural technologies and other innovations across the coffee value chain.
