Baseline Study on Certification and Beyond: Market Access for Sustainable Coffee, Horticulture and Tea from Tanzania (Final Report - Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar)
Voluntary sustainability standards (mainly Rainforest Alliance and GlobalGAP) were already used by many coffee and tea farmers in the Southern Highlands (from 15% in Mbinga coffee to 83% in Njombe tea) but not at all in Zanzibar, and compliance was held back by high certification costs from foreign auditors, heavy labour demands and, for avocado, no price premium.
Overview
Baseline study for Solidaridad's Certification and Beyond project, which aims to improve market access for coffee, tea and horticulture (fruits, vegetables and spices) by helping about 21,000 smallholder farmers adopt voluntary sustainability standards (VSS). The study covered Mbeya, Njombe, Ruvuma and Songwe regions in Tanzania Mainland and Unguja and Pemba in Zanzibar. It set baseline values for the project log-frame indicators on demographics, land management and climate-smart agriculture, productivity, income, VSS adoption and certification, extension services, marketing, post-harvest processing and access to finance. The final report is dated March 2021.
Key findings
- Sampled farmers had a median age above 47 years, men dominated coffee and tea production in Tanzania Mainland, and respondents were 62.8% male for coffee, 69.3% for tea and 80.3% for horticulture.
- Average farm size was larger in Tanzania Mainland (Mbeya 4.5, Ruvuma 6, Songwe 8, Njombe 9 acres) than in Zanzibar (1 to 3 acres); over 90% of farmers used some climate-smart practices (except in Unguja North, Pemba North and Pemba South), but the land under these practices was small (about 1.4-1.75 acres) because they are labour-intensive.
- Average annual household yields were 1,121 kg (Ruvuma) and 1,039 kg (Songwe) for coffee, 3,147 kg (Njombe) and 2,466 kg (Mbeya) for tea, and 2,675 kg (Mbeya), 1,255 kg (Njombe) and 180 kg (Songwe) for avocado; no farmer was found producing turmeric in Zanzibar.
- Crop sales provided more than half of household income in most Mainland regions, while fishing and livestock dominated in parts of Zanzibar; average total annual income was TZS 4.8-6.7 million in the Mainland and TZS 0.9-3.7 million in Zanzibar.
- Farmers implementing VSS were 15% in Ruvuma-Mbinga and 49% in Songwe-Mbozi (coffee), and 56% in Mbeya and 83% in Njombe (tea); VSS were not applied in Zanzibar, and avocado farmers received no premium for VSS compliance.
- VSS extension came almost entirely from private agents employed by AMCOS, buyers or companies; only 15 of 107 public extension staff in Mbeya (17%) and none in Njombe or Zanzibar had been trained on VSS.
- Coffee was the only crop processed by farmers (51% in Ruvuma and 69% in Songwe), and access to finance varied widely: 100% in Ruvuma, 11% in Songwe, 8% in Mbeya and 6% in Njombe, and 10-34% across Zanzibar regions.
In figures
15 % of farmers
49 % of farmers
56 % of farmers
83 % of farmers
No standards were applied in Zanzibar.
Data table
| Item | % of farmers |
|---|---|
| Coffee, Ruvuma-Mbinga | 15 |
| Coffee, Songwe-Mbozi | 49 |
| Tea, Mbeya | 56 |
| Tea, Njombe | 83 |
Recommendations
- Advocate for youth and women's ownership of resources and build their business development capacity to attract more youth and women into tea, coffee and horticulture.
- Promote labour-saving technologies and better input availability, since sustainable land management and climate-smart practices are labour-intensive.
- Strengthen use of and access to ICT tools, especially mobile phones, and build ICT capacity of farmers and extension agents.
- Strengthen engagement of local VSS auditors to reduce reliance on external auditors and lower certification costs.
- Extend VSS and certification along the whole chain, including the seed system and early generation seed.
- Strengthen public-private coordination of sector players, including forming a dedicated board or institution for horticulture as exists for coffee and tea.
- Prioritise value addition, post-harvest management and business capacity building for AMCOS, and review project indicators to make them SMART.
Methodology
Cross-sectional mixed-methods study: household survey on KoBo with farmers randomly sampled from Solidaridad's profiled farmer lists (389 in Tanzania Mainland; 234 in Zanzibar per the methodology section), FGDs with about 110 members of 12 AMCOS and 3 farmer associations, KIIs with government, crop boards and businesses, and desk review; analysis in Excel and SPSS.
Limitations
- The Zanzibar sample reached 234 of 290 planned households (80% response rate).
- The period in which public extension staff received VSS training could not be established during the survey.