Songwe Hezya Peaberry, Tanzania

Songwe Hezya Peaberry, Tanzania

Tanzania is one of the largest countries in Africa by area, and its annual Arabica coffee production is around 650,000 bags – as much as its better-known neighbor, Kenya. However, Tanzania has long been in the shadow of the countries it borders.

In Tanzania, Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) manage 95% of the country’s coffee production. Smallholders must be registered to an AMCOS to qualify for support in production, processing, storage, transport, marketing, and government aid. Without membership, their raw coffee would have no way of reaching the global market. The Hezya AMCOS started out with just 50 smallholder coffee growers. Thanks to strong leadership that supplies agronomic inputs and small loans, the AMCOS quickly grew to its current force of 295 members across the Haraka, Hezya, and Izumbi villages in the Mbozi region. In the 2022/2023 crop season, Taylor Winch Tanzania, Genuine Origin’s sister company in the region, granted the Hezya AMCOS a loan for a Coffee Production Unit (CPU) so that the AMCOS members can collectively wash process their harvested cherries. After drying the washed coffee on raised beds for 9-10 days, the parchment coffee is delivered to the dry mill for storage, milling, and grading before exporters transport the Tanzania green coffee.