The umbrella organization Kagera Cooperative Union (KCU) lies in the Kagera region of Tanzania, in the western part of Lake Victoria and currently unites 126 coffee cooperatives. It was founded in 1950 already and was one of many new companionships with the goal to break price and trade monopoly of intermediaries.
In 1993 KCU received the fairtrade certification. Projects realized from the fairtrade premiums are the improvement of drinking water supply, the construction of bridges and schools, the renovation and maintenance of a hotel, generating income for the cooperation and trainings and seminars about fairtrade and coffee qualities. This certification additionally ensures that small farmers receive a guaranteed minimun fair trade price when the world market price is below 1,40 USD. If the world market price exceeds the fair trade minimum price, the farmers receive the world market price.
The Kagera Cooperative Union unties more than 60.000 small farmers. Through the takeover of an own instant-coffee-factory, KCU can process their beans into soluble coffee themselves. This possibility contributes an important part to farmer´s economical independence due to the fact that there is mainly multinational concerns in international coffee business.