Problem

Tanzania, home to Mount Kilimanjaro as well as rare animal species and undeveloped national parks, is also distinguished by its dependence on agriculture, which employs 90% of the work force. Because topography and climate limit crops to 4% of the land, pressure is great to extend it into sensitive ecosystems, which threatens wildlife.

The Tanzanian highland zones boast great biodiversity and growing conditions, which make them highly attractive to farmers.

The Gift

Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, is home to the largest arabica coffee producer in Tanzania and the oldest cooperative in Africa: Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU). KNCU is an example of how sustainable farming can be a symbiotic partner to an ecologically sensitive area.

The 60,000 farmers scattered on the slopes of the mountain and within Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park produce Fair Trade and organic coffee which is distinctive, rich, and finely balanced, and valued for the flavor it gets from volcanic soils. Farmers here practice shade-managed agroforestry, planting coffee along with native tree species, banana, citrus, and avocado.

Your support of this organization, through financing from Root Capital (a social investment fund) will directly benefit disadvantaged family farmers and help them implement conservation projects, which include protecting the habitat of African elephants as well as the endangered cheetah and black rhino.