Nairobi — The Tanzania Coffee Research Institute in Moshi has developed coffee varieties that are resistant to coffee berry disease and leaf rust.

The government will distribute six million seedlings to farmers to double production from the current 50,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes a year by 2015, Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives Joseph Mungai told delegates at the recent Third East African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition in Arusha.

The country plans to produce 70,000 tonnes of coffee per year by 2010, Mr Mungai said. "We need to increase both production and quality, especially now that coffee is fetching good prices in international markets," he said

He said despite the fall in price in recent years and drought in the country, coffee remains the leading export crop for Tanzania, generating 30 per cent of total export revenues.

He added that the coffee sector will get priority in the Agricultural Sector Development Programme through price incentives to farmers and improvement of farm management.

Production of clean coffee in Tanzania has averaged 50,000 tonnes a year, but the yield this season will drop to 37,500 tonnes because of drought in Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions, which account for 20 per cent of coffee produced in the country.

The highest volume of coffee produced was 70,000 tonnes in 1975 during the implementation of the European Union-supported Coffee Improvement Programme.

Tanzania's share of global coffee market is 0.8 per cent. It is the third largest African Arabica coffee producer after Kenya and Ethiopia.

The country has about 250,000 hectares under coffee, employing two million people from 400,000 families in Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Kagera, Kigoma, Tanga, Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya, Rukwa, Ruvuma, Tanga and Manyara regions.

During the conference, Tanzania's Vice President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein said low coffee prices over the past five years had led to a fall in production.