Merchants Protests against the Colonial Coffee Marketing Policies

Abstract

Through an extensive use of primary sources available at the Tanzania National Archives in Dar Es Salaam, the authors provide an historical analysis of the power relations dominating the marketing of coffee in Bukoba district during the 1920s to 1950s, when the territory was under British colonial rule. Local small-scale growers, merchants and colonial authorities were the three main actors involved in the coffee production chain. This paper specifically shows how Indian merchants dominated the coffee industry in Bukoba district. It identifies the colonial coffee marketing policies that were introduced in the area and analyses their rationale and outcomes; it examines why such policies were rejected by the Indian merchants; and finally, it determines the impact of the implementation of some of the policies on the coffee in dustry.