In Tanzania, coffee production, processing and marketing is managed by a system of "Primary Societies" (or Village Cooperatives), which are joined by small producers who, in turn, are associated in (regional) Cooperative Unions, present in each of the 5 coffee-producing regions.

Two of these regional cooperatives, KCU and KNCU, market more than half of all coffee in the country. KCU has 96 primary societies with some 60,000 members. The management of KCU is in the hands of a 12-person board of directors, and the different areas of work are covered by 400 employees.

KCU was born in 1950 with 48 primary (village-based) societies. In 1976 it was dissolved by the government (along with other cooperatives) and replaced by a state agency that took over its sale and transformation. The cooperative unions were re-established in 1984, but their assets were never returned, leaving them in a state of extreme poverty. In 1991 the government gave full autonomy to the cooperatives, as well as freedom of association. KCU made its first Fair Trade export soon after, while Alternativa3 made its first import into our country in 1999.

KCU is a second-tier or secondary cooperative. Its main activity is the marketing of coffee and other agricultural products from 178 primary or grassroots cooperatives. They are located in villages in the Kagera region, specifically in the Bukoba and Muleba districts, representing about 100,000 women workers who, together with their families, account for about 300,000 people. KCU also provides training and technical and financial support to women farmers. They become members of the grassroots cooperatives by acquiring 5 shares in the societies for about 1500 Tanzanian shillings.