As our charge drew us deeper into Tanzania, the nation's history with cooperatives grew more and more important. Around independence in Tanzania (1961) cooperatives were a strong force to be reckoned with: powerful grassroots organizations that were protected by the state. In the 1970s, Tanzania's first president Julius Nyerere nationalized cooperatives – including coffee growing co-ops. Tanzania still widely looks on Nyerere as a great hero of recent history but his policy of Ujamaa – social familyhood – and collectivization made cooperatives much less productive and much more state-influenced. Instead of member-owned organizations these former co-ops (including KNCU) became state-run organizations where members had little say in governance, administration or hiring. Efficiency and benefits to member owners fell dramatically. KNCU and other co-ops were re-privatized in the 1980s but still benefit from government support. When trade liberalization came to Tanzania in the 1990s, however, what benefits the co-op still gave to member owner farmers were nearly wiped out. Cut throat competition from multinational firms quickly exposed cooperatives' inefficiencies and many went out of business with membership dropped drastically in remaining cooperatives.
It is out of this history that KNCU steps today. Although membership is down from what it was in the 1980s, KNCU is growing once again. They are diversifying to protect member investment and benefits and their first profitable year in recent memory was last year. While this success shows that KNCU is adapting in a global market economy, it still has many challenges stemming from its history and the local coffee economy. KNCU's coffee is almost all Fair Trade and they handle the Fair Trade social premium differently than the other cooperatives we met with. According to KNCU officials, two of each primary co-op's representatives vote on how to use the social premium at the annual KNCU meeting. So far the social premium has gone to extension workers to train farmers, diversification projects such as a KNCU hotel, roaster, and restauraunt, a scholarship fund for farmers' children (600 last year), and more. These initiatives have benefitted KNCU and will help KNCU enter the national roasted coffee market and enhance the education of its member owner farmers and their families. These programs are different from the potable water tapping, school building and electrification of Ethiopian and Ugandan co-ops we visited, but much of that is because Tanzania has more developed infrastructure.
Tanzanian coffee farmers have a higher standard of living than Ethiopian or Ugandan farmers: they have access to potable water, better transportation systems, free primary education and low-cost secondary education. One of the reasons that Julius Nyerere is looked at positively across Tanzania is that he built and invested strongly in both infrastructure and an effective democratic political system and this investment in infrastructure and democratic government continues today. While there are many tribes in Tanzania, there are not the inter-tribal tensions that were present in Ethiopia and Uganda. Tanzania is a pluralistic society, with different tribal and religious groups enjoying relative 
equality.
But on to the farm. We visited about a half dozen of KNCU's farms located in a small area and these farms are part of a new ecotourism initiative. Farms were fairly small and close together and we encountered many friendly farmers and their families on the paths between them.
One unique thing about KNCU today is that instead of using central co-op owned processing facilities farmers own small depulping and washing stations and share them with each other. Here you can see their washing and drying stations, respectively. Dennis, our guide through KNCU's farms, is the one in the white shirt and he has been a coffee farmer all his life.
One of the goals that KNCU has is to help their primary cooperatives build centralized processing to further 
improve coffee quality and help provide further benefits to their member owner farmers. Intercropping is widely practiced on KNCU farms with banana trees and some others giving shade, while coffee trees, beans, yams, and more are grown beneath. KNCU employs extension workers who help farmers produce higher quality coffee and thus earn a higher price.
Coffee is not very profitable for farmers in Tanzania. Current global prices and high costs have led to uprooting and abandonment of many coffee trees. We saw similar problems at Mt Meru in earlier in Tanzania. Fair Trade farmers are able to make ends meet through selling other crops they grow alongside coffee and are only able to build quality homes if family members work elsewhere and send money home. KNCU's farmers are also feeling the same population pressure that farmers in Ethiopia and Uganda were. Inheritance dictates that land is evenly divided among male children and since most farmers have at least four children there is a problem of shrinking land parcels over generations. The size of many KNCU coffee farms – 100 trees – was much smaller than coffee farms in other countries and not financially sustainable. Both Ethiopia and Uganda are feeling this pressure as well, although not yet to this degree. The way out that all co-ops we've talked with have highlighted is education, although access – especially in Uganda and Ethiopia – is a challenge. One other major challenge that KNCU is facing is that farmers will take out loans from KNCU but instead of paying them back they will sell their coffee to another buyer. This is also a challenge for other co-ops we've visited, and KNCU and other co-ops are addressing this by pushing loans for members off into seperate savings and credit co-ops so bad debts don't directly damage KNCU. Despite these challenges, however, KNCU is benefiting its owning farmers in unique and innovative way. The cooperative is showing its effectiveness and value by its growth and commitment by farmers.
We sell KNCU coffee at Willy Street. Equal Exchange's Tanzania blend is from KNCU, as are some others. Just Coffee does not currently sell KNCU coffee, however.Upcoming are two more entries reflecting on our trip as a whole and lessons we've learned. Catch you then!
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