KAGERA Region coffee growers have appealed to the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) to force cooperative unions to pay peasants the day primary cooperative societies receive their coffee.
In a random interview, growers said here yesterday that the TADB loaned the unions over 27bn/- on the understanding that cooperative societies will collect coffee from growers and pay them instantly.
Contrary to that understanding the unions are collecting coffee without paying growers.
"The TADB has overwhelming leverage over the unions because it gave the unions money to buy our coffee. It must force that unions to pay us without delay," said Mr Sevelin Silvesta, a coffee grower in Mweyanjale Village, in Muleba District.
TADB is facilitating the initial payments while the 27bn/- is expected to be a revolving fund.
"We hate late payment for our coffee because it hurts and demoralises us. Unions have received money from TADB. We expect our primary cooperatives to receive money from unions and pay us in reasonable time, not wait for more than a month. Many growers have been demoralised by this tendency. We ask the TADB to intervene," Mr Silvesta said
Similar complaints were raised by other dejected growers. Unions give money to primary cooperative societies that collect coffee from growers. The region has two unions: KCU 1990 Limited and KDCU Limited.
