Africa’s first coffee conference opens in Tanzania

Moshi Hosts Africa's First Coffee Conference

By Peter Temba
Tanzania Daily News

August 30, 2010

Dar Es Salaam — The first international conference to be held in the African continent under the banner of 'Let's Talk Coffee' was opened here on Monday with a call to a wide spectrum of stakeholders to promote the coffee industry to create security for future generations.

Officiating at the opening of the three-day event in Moshi, Moshi District Commissioner, Mr Musa Samizi said the coffee industry in East Africa had great potential which needed to be exploited to boost economic development.

However, he cautioned about 120 conference participants that coffee producers in the region were faced with a number of challenges that include transparency of the supply chain, young people moving away from the farm and acceptable production techniques.

Mr Samizi said such challenges could be overcome through education and support, adding, "With conferences like 'Let's Talk Coffee,' which bring together all actors in the supply chain, we are moving towards overcoming these challenges."

In his brief remarks, the Director General of Tanzania Coffee Board, Mr Adolph Kumburu, informed the participants that 90 per cent of coffee producers in Tanzania are smallholder farmers who were in dire need of service provision by the government.

He challenged the participants to find the root cause of why Africa was still lagging behind in attaining socio-economic development in spite of the fact that it was the source of quality coffee, saying for the past ten years, total annual coffee output in Tanzania was 50,000 tonnes. The coffee crop was introduced at Kilema in Moshi Rural area in 1889 by the missionaries.

Mr Kumburu said coffee cultivation was introduced in Vietnam in1981 and the country was producing some 1.2 million tonnes of coffee every year, in contrast with Ethiopia, the pioneer coffee grower in Africa, whose annual coffee production was 360,000 tonnes. He asked the conference to explore real value of coffee in terms of market promotion.

'Let's Talk Coffee' conference brings relationship coffee trade model to East African Coffee industry. The event is organised and sponsored by Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers (SHCI) based at Portland, Oregon State in the USA. The event is focused on training and an exchange of ideas related to the specialty coffee industry.

According to the SHCI, Africa Programmes Director, Ms Sara Morrocchi, the event brings together stakeholders in the specialty coffee supply chain, including East African farmers, co-op managers and agronomists, coffee quality specialists, government officials, coffee roasters from North America, Europe, Australia, and Africa, local and international non-profit organizations and finance institutions.

Participants will learn about today's coffee market from their fellow farmers, roasters, importers. The majority of the one-hundred and twenty participants represent producer groups from across East Africa. "This has been an amazing turnout for our first Let's Talk Coffee in Africa, and shows how much growers want to learn about the market," says Genevieve Edens, the Let's Talk Coffee Coordinator.

Discussion and presentations will focus on the successes and challenges of the East African coffee supply chain, with emphasis on the tenets of the relationship with coffee model, such as traceability. Other programme highlights include: presentations and trainings about sustainable production practices, coffee quality evaluation or cupping, coffee culture in emerging local markets, and food security.

Ms Sara said the Let's Talk Coffee event is unique in the region. "This is the first time that many of these producer groups have met face-to-face with their customers," she said. "They will have the chance to meet other coffee stakeholders from around the world together with buyers, which is a rare opportunity."

As emerging coffee markets develop in coffee-producing countries, more producer organizations are wanting to learn about coffee preparation and retail. Two national barista champions, from South Africa and Denmark respectively, are at the event to pull shots of espresso on the Dalla Corte-brand machine at the event, one of the few espresso machines in all of Tanzania. For many farmers, this is the first time they have seen the preparation of espresso using their high quality coffee.

On the last day of the event, all participants will visit Machare Estate, located thirty minutes outside of Moshi Town, to see first-hand their sustainable farm management practices. At the Rainforest Alliance Certified estate farm, everyone will tour the coffee processing plant, water recycling system, to mention but a few sites.

Founded in 1997, Sustainable Harvest is a Portland, Oregon-based green coffee broker providing top roasters in North America and Europe with the highest quality certified organic and fair trade specialty coffee. Sustainable Harvest partners with nearly 200,000 growers in fourteen countries, and has been working with East African farmers since 2006.

The company invests approximately two-thirds of its operating expenses back into the supply chain to train farmers and provide technical support for a stronger, more sustainable supply chain.