Tanzania: Tcb to Hold Online Coffee Trading On Weekdays

THE Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) will be conducting online coffee trading system during week days in efforts to speed up payments to farmers, it has been disclosed.

The decision to hold the auctions on week days resulted from bad experience gained when the business was conducted on weekends after some farmers faced delay or completely failed to receive their money.

Kagera Regional TCB Manager, Mr Edmund Zani explained that the third auction was held last weekend (Saturday), resulting in some delay of payments to the farmers because the financial institutions were closed.

"Starting tomorrow (today), online coffee trading system will be conducted during week days to enable farmers receive their payments within the agreed period of 24 hours." However, all the AMCOS had by Tuesday evening already been paid their money. The auction was conducted transparently and competitively.

A kilogramme of Robusta coffee was sold between 1,700/- and 1,810/-. The price difference depended on the quality and quantity of the coffee received from the respective Agricultural and Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS).

He explained that the fourth auction will be held today (Friday) covering Agricultural and Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) under the Kagera Cooperative Union (KCU), Karagwe District Cooperative Union (KDCU) and Ngara Farmers' Cooperative Society.

Mr Zani elaborated further that during the first and second auctions a kilogramme of Arabica coffee fetched between 3,720/- and 3,740/-. The Tanzania Cooperative Commission (TCC) supervised the online auction held in Bukoba Municipal Council in collaboration with the TCB.

KCU comprised about 134 AMCOS with 60,000 members. Out of the number 53 were in Muleba, 27 in Missenyi, 51 in Bukoba Rural, while three others are in Bukoba Urban. KDCU, on the other hand, comprises 126 AMCOS.

During his recent tour in Kagera, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa explained that the government was well prepared to hold the coffee auctions in the region.

"All the necessary arrangements have been completed. Private companies and buyers are invited to participate in the auctions and offer attractive prices to the farmers, the PM was quoted as saying.

Private companies were welcome to compete and buy the coffee at auctions held at the AMCOS level instead of relying on the outdated system whereby cooperative unions collected the coffee from farmers, ending up paying low price to the farmers," he said.

He invited private companies to buy coffee directly from AMCOS, a move aimed to offer higher price to the farmers.

He tasked the Kagera Regional Commissioners (RC), Major Gen Charles Mbuge, District Commissioners (DCs) and District Executive Directors (DEDs) to closely supervise the exercise and ensure that the funds are utilised for the intended purposes.

Coffee is grown in Bukoba, Muleba, Karagwe, Kyerwa, Ngara and Missenyi districts in the western areas along Lake Victoria. This constitutes about 50 per cent of the total coffee production in Tanzania.

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