According to the Cashew nut Board
of Tanzania (CBT) Director General, Mr Mfaume Juma, the Cashewnut Industry
Development Trust Fund (CIDTF) financed factories will be constructed in
Tunduru, Mtwara Rural and Mkuranga districts.
“We are determined to increase
the domestic capacity of cashew processing to at least 30 per cent,” Mr Juma
told the Daily News in a phone interview from Mtwara yesterday, noting that
currently less than 10 per cent of the country’s cashew produce is processed
domestically.
He said consultants from the
University of Dar es Salaam Business School have already submitted the initial
draft of the factories’ business plans, adding that their Ardhi University
counterparts were expected to submit the structural drawings for the factories,
soon.
“We have engaged experts to
ensure that the business is expertly executed,” he said, inviting more
Tanzanians to invest in the cashew industry, which he said offers huge business
opportunities.
Tanzania produces between 150,000
and 200,000 tonnes of cashew nuts, most of which is exported in raw form. The
export of raw cashew however is widely ridiculed as an export of jobs for
Tanzanians to foreign countries while denying producers of their rightful
income due to the meagre prices that the raw produce attracts.
Cashew nut farmers have this
season received relatively good prices, ranging between 2,400/- and 2,900/- per
kilogramme, according to the CBT chief. “Farmers under the warehouse receipt
system have received good prices this season, as compared to their counterparts
outside the system, who have sold their produce at 2,000/-.
The planned factories with total
processing capacity of 30,000 tonnes annually, Mr Juma said, will be operated
under the Public Private Partnership arrangement. “The factories will be
operated under the PPP arrangement, we are determined to attract the best
partners in these joint ventures.”
The regulator of the cashew
sub-sector was optimistic of the bright future of the industry, saying there is
a growing interest among prospective investors, “We are getting many
prospective investors with interest in the cash crop...and they are all welcome
because in cashew nut, there is huge business potential for tapping.”
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