The House was informed that coffee production decreased from 6,706 tonnes in 2014/15 to 5,882 in 2018/19 financial years due to various reasons.
The Ministry of Agriculture said in a written response to a question by special seats Member of Parliament Shally Raymond (CCM) who wanted to know the government's plan to revamp the production of the cash crop.
In response, the Ministry of Agriculture said the drop in production was due to various reasons including decrease in land for cultivation because of population which has made farmers to turn coffee farms into residential areas, tourism and the shift to other types of farming such as horticulture and the fruit production.
The ministry further said the drop was also due to changes in rainfall patterns which led to drought and fall of irrigation activities which were the pillar of coffee production in regions of Arusha and Kilimanjaro.
Other initiatives according to the ministry include working together with the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI to offer training to extension officers at ward level as well as training them on better ways to develop nursery trees which reduces production costs up to 50 per cent.
