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How Tanzania Thwarted Dodgy Cashew Nut Traders


By Special Correspondents, KAMPALA AND DAR ES SALAAM  
CO-FOUNDER of Apple Inc who is credited as one of pioneers of microcomputer revolution, Steve Job (1955-2011), once said “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” adding further that; “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
These two quotes speak volumes and resonate with unflinching decisions being made by the Government of Tanzania under President John Magufuli to uplift social wellbeing of the people and crushing unscrupulous individuals who hitherto survived by exploiting the poor.



Dr. Magufuli, a Chemist by profession, took many people on surprise when he announced that the government through the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) and the Tanzania Peoples’ Defense Forces (TPDF) would purchase all cashew nuts from farmers in Southern regions.
President Magufuli did not end there, he directed further each kilogramme of the nuts should fetch 3,300/- up from just 1,500/- which was earlier proposed by cashew nut traders, who were ostensibly operating in a cartel.
It was apparent that traders were determined to frustrate the farmers as they kept on dragging their feet, dictating lower prices for the crop. The traders have for long operated like ‘semi-gods’, and as a result hurting the poor farmers to whom the crop is the lifeblood.
Reports coming in from many parts of the world show that the price of the nuts has increased by almost 10 per cent since the Tanzanian government started buying the entire country’s stock at a higher price.
Growers of cashew nuts, which is among the most valuable export crops for Tanzania, had been holding back from selling after prices fell below what they said it cost them to produce.
The 3,300/- per kilogramme offered by the government represents an increase of over 90 per cent compared to what was offered by traders, meaning that the farmers would reap handsomely from estimated 220,000 harvested during the season.
Shortly after Dr Magufuli’s orders, army personnel started ferrying truckloads of the cash crop purchased by the government to selected storage areas. A commodity trader at the Scotland-based Freeworld Trading, Mr Michael Stevens, pointed that the price of the commodity had risen to US $3.80 dollars per kilogramme from US $3.50 following events in Tanzania.
The prices cashew kernel hit a high of US $4.8 dollars per kilogramme at the beginning of the year, but as demand from the United States and Europe fell, they declined to US $3.2 dollars in October, an analyst at Cashewinfo, an India-based industry research organization, said.
Snacks account for over 60 percent of the demand for cashews, the analyst said. Traders said they were assessing how Tanzania, a top ten global producer, would be able to get its cashews to the main buyers in India and Vietnam before the end of the year.
 “Between now and then, it’s not clear what the price will be. If buyers think the price will continue to go up then they might come in and buy,” Stevens said.
Latest figures indicate that since the intervention by the government of Tanzania, a total of over 10,769 kilogrammes of the nuts worth over 35.5bn/- had been purchased in the three southern regions of Mtwara, Lindi and Ruvuma.
During the period, a total of 34,938 farmers in the three regions pocketed the 35.5bn/- as indicated in the brackets Lindi (12bn/-), Ruvuma (4.9bn/-) and Mtwara (17.9bn/-).
Government sources confirmed that a team of experts had already arrived in Coast Region for the assessment exercise. Coast Region becomes the fourth in the list after similar ones in Lindi, Mtwara and Ruvuma.
Tanzania produces an average of 275,000 tones of cashew nuts per annum but only 30,000 tonnes are processed locally and yet the country has factories with an installed capacity of 127,000 tonnes.
Dr. Magufuli has thus emphasized on local processing of raw materials to add value and create employment for majority of Tanzanian, a clear testimony of Steve Job’s quote; “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” The innovation has now attracted other EAC countries like Uganda to invest in cashew production.



Uganda is one of the newest inclusion in cashew farming as reports here confirm that more than 20, 000 new seedlings were planted since 2015. The goal is to increase the yields as more Ugandans favour the nuts which are mostly imported from Tanzania or India.
Ends

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