April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Tanzanian coffee production may fall 11 percent in the 12 months through June 2010 because of disease and lower fertilizer use, the state-run Tanzania Coffee Board said.

The preliminary output forecast is 55,000 metric tons, compared with 62,000 tons this season, Adolph Kumburu, director- general of the board, said by phone today from Moshi, in northern Tanzania.

“We need to find out the extent of coffee berry disease on the crop before arriving at the final figure,” he said, without giving further details. Coffee berry disease is a fungus that attacks and destroys the coffee as it grows.

Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-largest coffee producer after Ethiopia, Uganda and the Ivory Coast, reaps its crop from April through August. The country exports almost all its production.

A drought late last year affected flowering of the crop in some main growing areas, Kumburu said. “The high cost of fertilizers also means less usage,” he added.

The East African nation is implementing a replanting program aimed at boosting production to 96,000 tons by 2013, Kumburu said in February.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 27, 2009 10:22 EDT