The Starbucks Foundation has awarded US$750,000 to a Tanzanian project to provide cows to coffee farmers
Part-funded by Irish Aid and implemented by the Heifer International in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the aim of the Maziwa Zaidi project is to help coffee farmers to diversify their income and provide better nutrition for their families.
The funding will be used to provide 5,000 smallholder farmers in the Tanga and Morogoro regions with dairy heifers and bulls, allowing them to produce milk and breed more cattle.
Heifer International said the farmers will also receive training in dairy management and cattle husbandry, while a milk collection centre will also be developed to give larger dairy processors easy access to farmers’ milk.
Pierre Ferrari, Heifer International’s president and chief executive, said, “By introducing higher and steadier income levels from dairy, coffee farmers will actually have increased capital to invest in physical inputs and new technology to increase coffee production.”
The project is also expected to improve access to water and sanitation as well as increasing use of alternative sources of renewable energy.