Malawi Aims to Double Coffee Output Within 10 Years, Group Says

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Malawi, Africa’s second-largest tea producer, plans to more than double coffee output within the next 10 years, according to the Coffee Association of Malawi.

Production of the beans may increase to between 4,000 metric tons and 5,000 tons from an expected 2,000 tons this year as farmers plant more of the crop, Chairman Harrison Kalua said in an interview late yesterday at a coffee conference in Arusha, in northern Tanzania.

Some small-scale farmers have started growing coffee in addition to tobacco, which is their primary source of income, he said. Coffee production in Malawi declined from a peak of 7,000 tons in 2000 because of an increase in fertilizer costs, according to the Association.

Malawi is Africa’s largest tea producer after Kenya.

(Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-18/malawi-aims-to-double-coffee-output-within-10-years-group-says.html)