TaCRI wants subsidies in coffee farming raised

The government has been urged to increase subsidies in coffee farming following the hiked prices of farming inputs which have become a burden to farmers hence affecting their involvement in cultivation of the crop as well as their income.

The call was made by Tanzania Coffee Research Institution (TaCRI) planning manager in Lake Zone Nyabis Ng’homa when elaborating on the challenges facing farmers in Kagera, Mwanza and Geita regions.

Ng’homa said the current challenges is an increase of seedlings price which has gone up to 500/- from 50/- per seedling, an amount which is not affordable to farmers, therefore keeping the majority of them from cultivating the crop.

“The income generated by coffee farming in the country is huge thus the government must come up with strategies to heavily invest in the sector and should not leave cultivation of the crop into the hands of individuals because it is costful,” he said
He said since most of the farmers especially in Kagera highly depend on the crop, the government should direct district councils to buy seedlings and distribute them to farmers at affordable price.

He also advised the government to help the farmers by increasing subsidies instead of reducing them, citing an example he said this summer (from September last year to April this year) sales of seedlings at Maruku centre were low due to reduction of subsidies.

He said this summer TaCRI produced 150,000 coffee seedlings but only 40,000 of them were purchased and distributed in Bukoba rural and Muleba rural, which indicates that the price increase was the source of farmers’ failure to buy the seedlings.

He further argued that the low purchase of coffee seedlings is an indication that production will also dwindle. He therefore urged stakeholders to support the sector.

“We should stop putting much effort into political agenda that at the end do not much in pushing forward the income of the people in this sector and instead focus on setting up strategies with vivid results,” he said.