Kwamtili Estate, Tanzania
Kwamtili blog
Mapping
Kwamtili Estate in the Eastern Usumbara Mountains, Tanzania, is today a somewhat reduced (1150 hectacre) version of an enormous estate that was created when Tanganyika as it was then known was a German colony.
Today the estate remains the only producer of criollo cocoa that is grown from grafted (and therefore cloned) seedlings. Both these features are possibly unique in Africa.
Know-how belongs to former estate workers that now operate as an association with a licence to maintain, process and sell Kwamtili's cocoa in exchange for providing security.
Security is needed because a large part of the estate comprises virgin forest that is adjacent to the Kwamgumi Forest Reserve , a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot. A major concern is the loss of forest cover by encroachment and illegal logging.
With the support of the owners of Kwamtili Estate Ltd., our role is to support the Kwamtili Association in association with the UsitawiNetwork Kwamtili Forest Project whose aim is to protect Kwamtili Forest and to ensure that the immediate surrounding area occupied by the remainder of Kwamtili Estate is secure.
A somewhat outdated summary of Kwamtili Estate's activities, operations and location is available as a blog post.