Tanzanian Coffees Are Arriving

Fresh crop Tanzanian coffees have arrived or are arriving soon in most regions. “The 2022/2023 crop was 35% bigger for Robusta and 12% smaller for Arabica,” Aurélie says. This year’s Arabica harvest started about 3 weeks later than usual due to cold weather, and the size of the harvest was also smaller than the previous year’s.

Sucafina Tanzania works hand in hand with Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS for short) to source high quality coffees. They work holistically, providing support on everything from financial recordkeeping to proper fertilization techniques. To further this work, Sucafina Tanzania recently added 7 new fulltime Field Officer positions. These field officers provide year-round technical advice to our partner AMCOS.

Sucafina Tanzania has been supporting partner AMCOS as they work towards attaining their IMPACT-verification. IMPACT is Sucafina’s responsible sourcing program. “We have started training farmers in our supply chain and aim to be IMPACT-verified by Q3 this year,” Aurélie says. IMPACT elevates and rewards farmers for their role in reshaping the coffee industry for good and benefits farmers, traders and roasters alike. With IMPACT verification, farmers can demonstrate the sustainability of their farms and garner high price premiums for their hard work.

Just as IMPACT addresses the environmental impacts of coffee farming and the needs of farmers, Sucafina Tanzania is also working on several other programs to improve the environmental impact of our supply chain. “In 2022, we used Trade in Space technology to assess our supply chain for deforestation,” Aurélie says. While they’re continuing to assess deforestation in the supply chain, they’ve also begun conducting a survey of farmers in 2 deforestation hotspots they identified. The survey is measuring farmers’ willingness to reforest and the results are helping Sucafina Tanzania determine the best ways to communicate the importance of protecting forests with them.

In another project, Meo Carbon helped Sucafina Tanzania map the carbon footprint of our supply chain within Tanzania in 2022. They found that fertilizer input was a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions.  Many farmers apply more fertilizer than necessary or don’t apply the best kind for their specific soil needs. Now, Sucafina Tanzania is supporting farmers as they improve fertilization techniques and reduce the carbon footprint of each kilogram of coffee. They are also searching for new partners to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the farm level.

With new coffees arriving or in-store, now is the perfect time to start booking Tanzanian coffees. Get in touch with your trader to sample and book your Tanzanian lots.