Kilimanjaro Smallholder Revival Project (KSRP)

North - Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

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Partner since: 2022 Traceable to: 305 members Varietals: Kent, Bourbon

Supplier Structure:

Revitalization initiative uniting nine AMCOS on Mt. Kilimanjaro, providing seedlings, certification, training, and premiums to re-engage smallholders, with cherry collection and processing supported by select groups and broader volumes delivered as parchment.

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Community Context

The Kilimanjaro Smallholder Revival Project (KSRP) was launched to reverse decades of decline in smallholder coffee on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Once producing over half of Tanzania’s Arabica, the region’s smallholder output had fallen to less than one-fifth by 2020, as aging trees and farmers, low premiums, and weak cooperative structures left producers without incentive or support. This downturn traces back to the collapse of the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) following nationalization, re-independence, and liberalization of the coffee sector in the 1990s, when private exporters began buying directly from members and co-ops unraveled.

Originally subsidized by a European partner and supported by Taylor Winch, the project targeted nine AMCOS groups for revitalization. Support included organic certification, guaranteed premiums, and SL-28 seedlings—the variety that once made Kilimanjaro coffee famous. A youth corps was also established to train the next generation of growers. Crop to Cup joined by backing cherry premiums for member groups with the capacity to process cherry—specifically Marangu West, Lukani Lossa, and Mrimbo Uuwo—while the remaining groups contribute HP parchment. Although much of the broader network’s coffee remains below specialty grade, KSRP is preserving cultivars, practices, and profiles that defined Kilimanjaro’s reputation, while re-engaging a new generation of smallholders.

Country Context

Coffee in Tanzania has always been split: Robusta in the northwest, centered in Kagera around Lake Victoria, and Arabica further east and south, from the slopes of Kilimanjaro down through the southern highlands of Mbeya and Mbinga. This dual structure, rooted in colonial-era plantings, shaped the way coffee moved through the country for decades—most notably through the centralized Moshi Coffee Auction, where all coffee had to be sold until 2018, perpetuating a bottleneck that forced farmers to travel long distances and limited their agency in marketing.

That year, the government dismantled the centralized auction and shifted to a regional model, while also prohibiting private exporters from buying cherry or parchment directly from farmers. Estates and Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Societies (AMCOS) became the only legal channels for smallholder coffee to reach market. For farmers—who produce more than 90% of Tanzania’s coffee—this was disruptive but also catalytic, pushing them into AMCOS that, by design, run lean and pass premiums back to members rather than administrators.

Processing, though, remains uneven. In the north, most coffee is delivered as Home Processed (HP) parchment—washed and dried at the household level—making quality and consistency harder to control. Kilimanjaro’s prominence has slipped: once more than half of Tanzania’s Arabica, by 2020 it accounted for less than one-fifth, as old trees, aging farmers, low premiums, and estate-friendly regulations eroded smallholder output. The Kilimanjaro Smallholder Revival Project, funded by the EU and local partners, is working to replant, re-engage younger farmers, and preserve the cultivars and profiles that made the region renowned.

In the south, by contrast, AMCOS more often purchase cherry and manage central wet mills, giving them greater control over fermentation, drying, and storage. Over the past two decades, this has expanded quality and diversity, positioning the southern highlands as the country’s most dynamic source.

Institutionally, reforms continue. The Tanzania Mercantile Exchange (TMX) is preparing to work alongside the Moshi Coffee Exchange, with the goal of improving price discovery and transparency in a system still adjusting to its decentralized model.