THE coffee industry in the country has received a major boost after the European Commission in Tanzania handed over seven vehicles worth over 600m/- to Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI). TaCRI board chairman, Mr Vedasto Ngaiza, said at the institute's headquarters in Lyamungu over the weekend that the Nissan double cabin vehicles would be used in the coffee green revolution. Mr Ngaiza hailed the European Union (EU) for contributing 43 per cent of the TaCRI budget, noting that the donated vehicles would be used in implementation of a project dubbed Action Programme aimed at increasing the competitiveness of smallholder coffee growers in Tanzania. The chairman said the programme was financed by the European Development Fund geared toward coffee crop enhancement. In the last 13 years, he said, TaCRI had researched and developed 19 varieties of hybrid Arabica and four Robusta varieties. "TaCRI and all coffee stakeholders are thankful for the vehicles, since the aid will contribute to augmenting TaCRI's efficiency and pace in developing the coffee industry. Moreover, they will be handy in implementation of the Action Programme to increase the competitiveness of smallholder coffee growers in Tanzania," said the chairman. Mr Ngaiza said it was good that EU had recognized the importance of stakeholders' needs and continued to have faith with TaCRI owing to how well it spent money from different stakeholders on research services. He said the institute had embarked on an ambitious strategy to enable coffee growers team up through a participatory approach, with emphasis on groups and training of trainers. The approach, he said, had borne fruit as stakeholders were reached through a groups network in technology transfer, and at present there were more than 600 farmer clusters, each with members between 20 and 30 in district councils, working hand in hand to revitalize the coffee crop through shoots and transplant technology. "We have trained more than 378,000 growers through the participatory approach. Up to now TaCRI has built the capacity of team members in the production and distribution of 10 million quality coffee seedlings. It is estimated that a total of 46 million seedlings have been distributed and planted on 33,453 hectares, which is 12.5% of the coffee growing area in the country," said Mr Ngaiza. Source: allafrica.com/stories/201410130347.html