DAR ES SALAAM: TANZANIA is set to make significant progress in the global coffee market with the establishment of a Coffee Research Centre for Africa at the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TACRI) in Kilimanjaro Region.
This new centre will focus on seed production and coffee research, contributing to the development of the continent’s coffee industry.
The country will also host a Centre of Excellence for Coffee Production in Dodoma, which will provide training on various coffee crop issues, helping to improve the value of coffee production across Africa.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, Minister for Agriculture, Hussein Bashe said Tanzania, along with other African coffee-producing nations, plan to release a joint statement, the Dar es Salaam Declaration, at the third African Coffee Producing Countries Meeting, also known as the G-25 African Coffee Summit.
The declaration will focus on increasing the value of the coffee crop across Africa. “We want the value of coffee to rise over the next 10 years, so that 50 per cent of the coffee produced in Africa is more valuable through free trade among African countries,” Minister Bashe said.
ALSO READ: Rukwa surpasses crop harvest target by 103 per cent
He said that while the global coffee trade is valued at 500 billion US dollars, Africa, which produces half of the world’s coffee, earns only 2.5 billion US dollars from coffee sales.
“Coffee is not just an African crop. It’s a global crop,” Bashe said. “African countries should work together to ensure they produce and sell processed coffee in international markets.”
Tanzania will host the G-25 African Coffee Summit in Dar es Salaam on February 21-22, 2025. The summit will bring together coffee-producing nations from across Africa and the guest of honour will be Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan.
The summit organised in collaboration with the Inter Africa Coffee Organisation (IACO), will be carried under the theme “Unlocking Employment Opportunities for the Youth through Regeneration of the African Coffee Industry,” and it will address the underperformance of the coffee sector on the continent.
Minister Bashe also said that Tanzania’s coffee production has increased from 34,000 to 85,000 tonnes in the past year, and exports have risen to over 230 million US dollars, up from 140 million US dollars.
Looking forward, the G-25 summit aims to increase the value of 50 per cent of Africa’s coffee production within the next 10 years, promote free trade among African countries and strengthen Africa’s position in the global coffee market.
The summit initiative originated from a resolution at the 61st Annual General Assembly of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) in Kigali, Rwanda, in November 2021. It aims to assess the performance of the coffee sector in Africa.
The first G25 summit, held in Kenya in May 2022, resulted in the signing of the Nairobi Declaration, which recognised coffee as a strategic anchor commodity within the African Union (AU), aligning with the AU Agenda 2063.
The second summit took place in Kampala, Uganda, in August 2023, where the Kampala Declaration was signed. This declaration called for African heads of state to support the approval of coffee as a strategic commodity in the AU Agenda 2063 and the recognition of IACO as a specialised agency of the African Union at the next AU Heads of State Assembly.
In February 2024, the AU Heads of State and Government Assembly, during its 37th Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, adopted the inclusion of coffee as a strategic anchor commodity in the AU Agenda 2063 and recognised IACO as a specialised agency.
This decision enhances IACO’s ability to engage with the AU on agricultural policies, secure funding for coffee-related projects, and address trade barriers through the African Free Trade Agreement established in 2018.
