cashew:reaping peanuts from the business of gold

Thursday 31 October, 2013

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SUPPORTING THE PROMOTERS OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION

CASHEW: REAPINGPEANUTS FROM THEBUSINESS OF GOLD

“Concern over meagre returns fromcashew nuts: Increases. The reversetrend suggests that, despite investingtoo much sweats and blood in a cropthat elsewhere earns people goodmoney, Tanzanian farmers should bracefor more disappointing returns…

SPECIAL

Importantannouncement

to ourcustomers

Pages 812 - 15

By Michael Pandisha

Dairy sector opportunities

DAIRY farming has greatpotential to improve na-tional and householdeconomies. It creates awide range of employ-ment opportunities. The

sold milk provides dairy farmers with aregular income throughout the year.

It also provides manure which im-proves soil fertility, and it’s a source ofenergy (biogas) for the household par-ticularly in rural areas. Additionally,the animals provide other by-productslike skins for leather.

Milk is considered as a perfect hu-man food because it contributes consid-erably to the health status of the peoplein societies. Milk enhances the immunesystem of people and in that way, itcontributes considerably to the reduc-tion of child mortality.

Limited knowledgeHowever, the studies indicate that

most local dairy farmers hardly realisethe optimum milk production due tolimited knowledge on animal hus-bandry, high quality dairy cattle geno-types and poor feeding. Milk productionby small holder dairy farmers is signif-icantly reduced during the dry season.This means that the farmers’ income isalso affected during that period.

Dairy farmers should make achoice of improved dairy breeds. Thisplays a crucial role on increasing milkproduction which determines the dairyenterprise profitability.

With the modern advances inbreeding technologies, local dairy farm-ers can access to high quality dairygenotypes such as Jersey, Guernsey,Ayrshire, Holstein and Friesian.

Although the demand for highquality dairy genotypes in the countryis so high, the supply is limited. Thisshould be regarded as an investmentopportunity for local dairy sub sector.

According to Dr Sharif Hamad, theIndicus Country representative,Tanzania must have a political will to

increase dairy heifer production. “Weneed to develop a system that enablesmass production of specialised privatebreeding farms to produce differentcrosses of dairy heifers for sale to farm-ers.” He explains that performancemonitoring of dairy heifers sold to thefarmers is crucial to determine its sus-tainability and efficiency.

Investment in feedsIn order to obtain the optimum

milk production, a dairy farmer mustinvest in proper feeds. The quantityand quality of milk depend on the feedconsumed by the cow. If the cow is fedon poor-quality feed in large quantitiesor high-quality feed in small quantities,little milk will be produced.

A farmer should therefore grow aquantity of fodder at his farm that en-ables him or her to reserve part of it inthe rainy season to make hay and/orsilage.

In addition, animals can be supple-mented with feed residues, byproductsand concentrates in the dry season. Foran improved feeding it is also essentialthat sufficient water is made availablefor the cattle to drink.

Feedstuffs contain the nutrientsdairy cattle require to perform the nor-mal body functions such as growth,body maintenance, reproduction andproduction. The essential nutrients forthe animals include energy, proteins,minerals and vitamins.

However, feedstuffs must be di-gestible and nutrients absorbed if thefeed is to be useful to the animal. Somecomponents of feedstuffs such as woodyplants hardly have any nutritive valuedue to the fact that they are indi-gestible and not absorbable.

In addition, body conditioning canassess the appropriateness of a feedingregime for lactating dairy cows. Dairycattle deposit their energy reservesaround the pelvic area and by scoringthe amount of deposit using a standardscore, their condition can be assessed.

Concerns about healthOverweight cows or rather over-

conditioned have been shown to be

more susceptible to metabolic problemssuch as ketosis and to both infectious(mastitis) and non-infectious (retainedplacenta and lameness) health prob-lems. They are also more likely to havedifficulties at calving. Under-condition-ing cows can lower milk production asthere are insufficient energy and pro-tein reserves for mobilization in earlylactation.

Dairy cattle can be reared in differ-ent methods including intensive, exten-sive and semi intensive. These methodsdepend on resources availability to thefarmer.

The intensive system involves en-closing dairy cattle in zero-grazingunits where they are provided with alltheir feed and water requirements.This method is mainly practiced in ar-eas with scarce grazing land.

However, the method is labour in-tensive as feeding and cleaning the unitmust be done daily. The extensive sys-tem, on the other hand, involves thecattle reared on pasture. It is widelypractised in areas with large grazingland.

It should also be noted that cowswaste a lot of energy by walking whilegrazing in the field. In the semi-inten-sive system, the cattle graze for some

time during the day and in the after-noon or evening they are supplementedwith other forages like Napier grass,sweet potato vines, and oats and foddersorghums. In this method, the land isnot limiting but not enough to allowfree grazing throughout the day.

Whatever the production system,dairy cattle require high quality pas-ture for optimum milk production.“Dairy farmers must be able to managequality pasture production so as to ob-tain optimum milk production” saysOswald Mtarambilwa, the TanzaniaMilk Producers Association (Tampa) of-ficial. He suggests that the governmentshould train local dairy farmers in pas-ture production management. “Pastureis a raw material for any milk factory,”he observes.

He further explains that the train-ing should also focus on heat detection,performance recording, business skills,proper animal nutrition and feeding.

Pasture managementIn order to have efficient pasture

management, a number of activitiesneed to be given a considerable atten-tion. According to the dairy manual ti-tled, ‘Feeding a Dairy Cow in EastAfrica,’ published last year, one of keyactivities includes weed control. Weedsreduce the sown pastures productivity.They should be controlled by eitherhand weeding or herbicide.

In the establishment year grasses,plants are not firmly anchored in thesoil and therefore it is usually advisableto make hay rather than graze the pas-tures to avoid the risk of the cattlepulling out the young shoots.

If the pasture must be grazed dur-ing the establishment year, grazingshould be light enough to allow theplants to establish firmly in the soil. Inthe event of excess pasture, the dairyfarmer should conserve it in the form ofhay for dry-season feeding.

To attain maximum productionfrom pasture, the grass requires addi-tional nutrients from inorganic fertilis-er or farmyard manure. During the es-tablishment year, soil nitrogen is ade-

quate for grass productivity. However, in subsequent seasons

the soil loses its fertility. Nitrogen fer-tiliser may be applied on 1 or 2 monthsbefore the dry season to increase yieldsduring the dry season.

In order to optimise both animaland pasture production over a longterm, a dairy farmer has to considerstocking rates for different grasses.

A dairy farmer should also stockrate the number of animals for which agrassland unit can provide adequatedry-matter forage for a specified lengthof time. Stocking rate influences animalperformance, pasture recovery, long-term pasture production and speciescomposition.

Experience has shown that only ahandful of dairy farmers can afford pas-ture production and management ex-penses. Feed costs for a dairy herd canbe budgeted to determine ingredientsto be purchased or grown on a dairyfarm.

Feeding high-yielding dairy cows isa big challenge to afford for most localdairy farmers. “It is high time for boththe government and private sector toinvest in pasture production” saysFeddy Tesha, the Tampa chairperson,adding that “the government shouldcreate conducive business environmentto enable small holder dairy farmers toaccess credit facilities.”

Limited servicesDairy extension services are still

limited in the country. This is a majorbottleneck in the sector development.Ministry of Livestock and FisheriesDevelopment should therefore investmore in dairy extension serviceproviders particularly in rural areas.

It should start a scheme of identify-ing, accrediting and certifying privateextension agents to complement theservices offered by the government. Theservice providers’ areas of specialtycould be calf and heifer rearing, dairycows feeding, pasture production andmanagement to mention only a few.

In addition to that, dairy stake-holders must strengthen dairy coopera-tive societies and associations in orderto address members concerns. Dairyfarmers should join associations and co-operatives to improve their businessesand get specialized services.

“These institutions could render ex-tension services to dairy farmers evenin rural areas,” says Samuel ChachaMarigo, a dairy consultant based in Dares Salaam City.

Advocacy drivesTampa employs a number of re-

cruitment methods such as advertise-ment, brochures and fliers, personalletters, association activities andevents, group meetings and the like inorder to advocate for a conducive busi-ness environment in the local dairysubsector.

Besides, it provides a strategic fo-cus to new members’ orientation to en-able them to get guidance on how tomeet their initial expectations andachieve a sense of value.

Apart from good animal hus-bandry, better breeding and feeding, adairy farming requires a good climatewith sufficient rainfall, preferably welldistributed over the year. In addition, itneeds a cultural background with a tra-dition of cattle keeping and milk con-sumption.

EDITORIALThe Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Thursday 31 October, 2013

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The Guardian KILIMO KWANZADAIRY


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Most fruit have their seeds containedinside the fleshy pulp of the fruit.Cashew nuts however hang ontothe outside portion of the cashewapple, at the very bottom of thefruit to be precise. While most fruit

are prized for their fleshy pulp, cashew apples areprized for the scrumptious nut contained inside thehard grey seed pods.

Getting to the edible portion of the cashew nut isnot easy. The cashew seeds are roasted to softenthem and neutralize the acid found in the seed pod.Even after roasting, one needs a hard tool like ham-mer or a specialized crusher to pry open the seed pod,revealing the yummy nut inside.

Tanzania is one of the leading producers ofcashew nuts in the world. Reports have it that soonthere will be an increase in the global demand forcashew nuts. Applying basic market principles tothis situation, one would expect that the increaseddemand will translate into a windfall for localcashew farmers. However the workings of the localcashew nut industry are more peculiar than the nutsthemselves.

Of the almost 50 million cashew trees in thecountry, a large number were planted before inde-pendence some 50 or so years ago. As such, most areway past their prime. Ideally, with markets assured,farmers should simply chop down the aged trees andreplace them with new ones. This is not the case.

Events suggest that Tanzanian cashew farmersare now hanging at the bottom of the profit chain,away from the billions being generated from thetrade. Furthermore, essential agri-inputs like sul-phur dust are sold to the farmers at prices that are

six times the quoted international price for the in-puts. The whole thing leaves a tang not un-similar tothe unpleasant after taste of one who has chompedon a cashew apple.

It was against this background that somecashew nut farmers from Mtwara region were calledto a meeting. They arrived, expecting to receive theirdues. They got peanuts. This stained their heartswith anger far worse than the almost irremovablestains of the cashew apple. The irate peasants took tothe street, burning and looting property of those theydeemed responsible for their woes. The powers thatbe responded with batons, guns and tear gas; the gasalmost as toxic as the acidic smoke that rises fromroasting cashew nuts. When the smoke settled, somegraves were dug. Others were left nursing wounds.

It is no wonder then that many Tanzaniancashew nut farmers are abandoning the crop. Findout how cashew production in the country is set todrop even as global demand for cashew nuts rises.The whole situation is – forgive the pun - a bit nutty.

Wallace MauggoEditor

Is the Tanzanian cashewindustry going nuts?

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Artwork & Design: KN Mayunga To have your organisation promoted in Kilimo Kwanza, Call: 0782 253 676, 0718 985775

Value added cashew nuts canturn the TZ economy around

Making youths love,embrace agribusiness

Bank commits to serviceagricultural sector

Improved dairy sector can turnfarmers’ economies around

“In order to optimiseboth animal andpasture productionover a long term, adairy farmer has toconsider stockingrates for differentgrasses

Send your commentsfor free starting with(DAIRY) to 15774

By Hansa Group

Investment attraction

The massive investment at-traction in cashew sectorwill be possible if the dis-tribution process is favor-able and allows the move-ment of cashew raw mate-

rials from farmers to processing areaand from processing area to the marketin a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Transportation is one of the keyfactors that determine the price ofgoods and services in any commoditymarket.

According to a statement indicatedthat a well-established and cost-effec-tive transport system has the potentialto help reduce poverty through sup-porting economic growth by directlyand indirectly promoting trade andhigher productivity in the economicsectors.

“It is therefore essential that thesector is operated proficiently and ef-fectively to enable the economic sectorsto contribute optimally to socio-eco-nomic development.

Some reports indicate that trans-port sector contributes an average of 5to 7 percent of Gross Domestic Productin Sub-Saharan Africa and Tanzania inparticular,” reads the statement

Hansa’s commitment in Tanzaniaover the past two decades, and with the

new Fuso range, will provide trans-portation solutions to small holderfarmers to encourage local processingof cashewnut within Tanzania.

The statement explained thattransportation has long been recog-nized as a strategic factor in economicgrowth and social change. It is a keysector for agricultural and economic de-velopment in Tanzania. It forms an es-sential link between centers of produc-tion and markets in the agriculturalsector.

Readily available, low-cost trans-portation makes it possible to bringraw materials from farm to the factoryto be transformed into desired prod-ucts. Likewise, dependable transporta-tion makes it possible for these facto-ries to supply finished products to theircustomers where and when they areneeded, and in the form and quantitiesdesired, and in a timely manner.

The geography of Tanzania, itssize, diversity and dispersion giveroads a special position in integrationof the national economy. In particular,roads serve rural areas (where the ma-jority of the people live) more effective-ly than any other mode of transport.Road transport is the dominant modein Tanzania and carries over 80 percent passengers and over 75 per cent offreight traffic.

Eighty percent of Tanzanians de-pend on agriculture for their livelihood.Currently agriculture contributes 95

percent of the food consumed in thecountry.

Over the years, the transport sectorin Tanzania has helped to integratemarket- strengthening competition, in-crease access to farming techniques,and promote trade, tourism and mostimportantly to help the farmers opentheir market from local to other neigh-boring towns and cities.

In Tanzania, about 70 per cent ofthe food marketing cost comes fromtransportation.

As well, it has been estimated that30 to 40 per cent of all agricultural pro-duce is lost as a direct result of spoilingdue to delays in the transportation andsupply chain between farm and mar-ket.

With the under developed infra-structure, product distribution is a keyfactor of the agricultural sector.

Hansa Group understands the lo-cal challenges prevalent within theagricultural sector especially when itcomes to commodity products. Productdistribution is a key factor which deter-mines cost for any commodity.

The Group believes that without anefficient, well managed transport sys-tem, the growth and development ofthe agricultural sector, and cashew sec-tor in particular is adversely affected.

A step forward in this direction isthe forthcoming launch of the newFuso, which is now a Daimler company.These trucks, built for maximum prof-

itability, have a vehicle portfolio that isbased on the solid foundation of Fuso’score brand values which are guided byforward looking product values &achieving unique sales propositions.

Fuso’s core brand values are basedon trusted quality, economic efficiency,solid & functional design, committedservice, wider choice & backed byDaimler technology.

To add to this, the main USP’s ofthis all new range are extensive relia-bility & durability, high fuel efficiency,low maintenance costs &exceptionalloading capacity.

Fuso product values are based onreliability, revenue maximization / costoptimization and functionality. This iswhat makes Fuso the complete trans-port solution for any agricultural in-vestor and stakeholder.

Focusing on intensification of theagricultural sector in Tanzania, inwhich over 80percent of the populationis engaged,

Hansa Group believes that trans-portation sector is the one of the bestway to reduce rural poverty inTanzania.

Hansa’s invests on distributionarea by innovating and strengtheningtheir new standard mode of trucks willmake a strong contribution to supportgrowth in the agricultural sector incountry. This in turn will boost produc-tivity in business, agriculture, and re-duce poverty.

HORTICULTUREThe Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Thursday 31 October, 2013

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“It is therefore essentialthat the sector isoperated proficientlyand effectively toenable the economicsectors to contributeoptimally to socio-economicdevelopment

By Likati Thomas, Taha

Old is gold

WHEN he arrived atDifinga in MvomeroDistrict, MorogoroRegion for the firsttime in 1984 – com-ing from his home

village of Kirua on the slopes of theworld’s famous Mount Kilimanjaro –Mzee Mora found that a large part ofthe village was wild and overgrown.

With only a few small areas undereffective occupation and limited eco-nomic activity, the villagers could onlybe described as 'small-holder, peasantfarmers,' traditionally cultivating foodcrops for sustenance, particularlymaize and cassava.

Mzee Mora didn't come to Difingaby mistake, or came across the villageby accident. He'd in fact been specifi-cally invited to move into the place bythe 'native' villagers. And, what withone thing leading to another, he foundhimself being assimilated into the com-munity – and, just as soon, becomingone of the villagers.

"When I came here that first time,”Mzee Mora narrates, “my hosts allo-cated me a piece of land on which Ibuilt a very simple hut: the makings ofa new home away from home. I had nofurniture or furnishings to speak of,sleeping on the floor using bananaleaves both as a 'mattress' and for cov-er in the bitter cold.

“You can only imagine my ordealthen – especially considering that theclimatic conditions of Morogoro aresimilar to those of Kilimanjaro, hun-dreds of kilometres away, where I hadso recently left the comforts of a settledlife.

“All that notwithstanding, howev-er, I found myself falling in love withthe place and the friendly villagers astime went on. That was basically why

I firmly decided to make Difinga mynew home,” Mzee Mora explains.

Village rebornIn the due course of time and

events, Difinga has today become avery different place from what it wasin the 1980s. For starters, not only hasthe local population increased... Socio-economic developmental activitieshave also expanded and improved, es-pecially in the agriculture sector.

Travelling on the road to Difingafrom different directions, you will seealternating sceneries of undulatingcountryside, with hills giving way tovales, and to more hills, and morevales seemingly endlessly.

That geographical beauty is punc-tuated by successions of fertile farm-land on which one can grow variousfood and cash crops, including paddy inthe lowlands.

Lucrative businessHugging the roadside and extend-

ing outwards are patches of assortedvegetables and other fast-growing'money-making' crops which are forboth the farmer's cooking pot and forsale to other end-users in income-gen-erating trade.

According to Mzee Mora, “there isgood weather here in Difinga, andenough fertile, arable land – the sameas is the case in Kirua, Kilimanjaro.There are rivers with water flowingthroughout the year; and the roadswhich connect the villages in MvomeroDistrict with other parts of the regionare now passable at all times.

“These are the main reasons be-hind the Tanzania HorticulturalAssociation (Taha) and iWASH(Tanzania Integrated WaterSanitation & Hygiene) programmemoving into disseminate and other-wise impart knowledge on good agri-cultural practices to farmers inMvomero District,” he notes.

Clearly, Mzee Mora is not the onlyperson who has virtually fallen under

the 'Difinga spell,' so to speak. The oth-ers are Juma Lossini, a member of theTaha Board of Directors.

Speaking on the occasion of aFarmers’ Field Day at Difinga recent-ly, Lossini said: “This is my first timeto be here, and I frankly say that youguys are blessed. I'm saying this be-cause, on my way coming here, thefirst thing I saw was this very beauti-ful valley in the district; every plant inthis land is assuring you all of prosper-ity.

The event is one of the platformswhich Taha routinely uses to dissemi-nate knowledge on good agronomicpractices within the horticultural in-dustry in Tanzania.

The main aim is to further im-prove upon horticultural productionoverall through increased quality andvolumes of farmers' harvests, as wellas enhancing ready accessibility of re-liable and profitable markets. All thiswould, in turn, raise the living stan-dards of the horticultural practitionersand other stakeholders in the sub-sec-tor.

The event, conducted in DifingaVillage, with the same far-reachingaims. Farmers from different villageswere invited to witness and learn first-hand the simplest-possible technolo-gies in horticulture that aim at in-creasing quality harvests.

The underlying and overriding ob-jective is to drastically reduce poverty.It is possible to actually measure thequality of life in a given area by thehouses in which the locals are born,live and die!

Today, for example, most of thehouses in Difinga are built of wattle-and-daub, a network of rods and twigsplastered with mud or clay, thatchedwith straw, reeds, palm leaves or simi-lar material. If nothing else, this is am-ple evidence that such householdersare in deep poverty.

Questions may arise as to why

these people live in poverty while theyare surrounded by huge potential in-vestment opportunities.

Empowerment of localsClearly, Taha and its partner,

iWASH, have seen this, and havemoved in to empower the villagers.The two institutions are now inDifinga in full force to ensure that theliving standards of the local people im-prove through the cultivation of horti-cultural crops which would guaranteeconsiderable earnings throughout ayear.

Working in close collaboration,Taha and iWASH are already effec-tively making use of technical agrono-mist professionals in Morogoro to pen-etrate and impart appropriate knowl-edge in horticultural crops cultiva-tion... passing on technologies whichare known to have changed for the bet-ter the way farmers cultivated cropselsewhere before.

In fact, the one-year Taha-iWASHprogramme aim at improving horticul-tural productivity and market accesshas successfully recruited new farmersin the horticultural sub-sector and, asa result, people in Difinga are on theway to considerably improving thequality of their lives in due course,thanks to good practices in horticultur-al crops cultivation!

Commenting on the matter, a resi-dent of Difinga Village, MusaMohamed, says: "I thank Taha for thefree knowledge we have been given byits experts, and we are now confidentthat we can improve our living stan-dards and change our lives for the bet-ter through the cultivation of horticul-tural crops. I'm proud that, in Difinga,we're now connected to the world ofhorticulture!"

Send your comments for freestarting with(HORTICULTURE) to 15774

“That geographicalbeauty is punctuatedby successions of fertilefarmland on which onecan grow various foodand cash crops

Villagers linked to ‘the world of horticulture’

Firm keen on improvingcashew production systems

contract farming with financiallystrong off-taker and minimum poten-tial marketable production of10,000MTs and above.

Warehouse receipt financingWarehouse Receipt financing is a

working capital facility for purchase ofnon-perishable commodities like coffee,cashew nuts, cocoa and other cropswhich are stored in approved/licencedwarehouse; the stored crop in the con-trolled and licensed warehouses byTanzania Warehouse ReceiptLicensing Board (TWLB) is the collat-eral for the loan which is assigned tothe bank through warehouse receipts.

Upon the Bank receiving theWraehouse Receipt, the bank disbursesup to 70% of a conservative price (es-tablished by the bank). Whenever thecommodity financed under WRS issold; cash is delivered to the bank, loanredeemed, commodity released fromthe warehouse and the transaction isended. Warehouse receipt system fi-nancing is currently being undertakenin the following areas: Mbinga andLitembo in Ruvuma region, Kagera re-gion, Mbozi and Mbeya rural in Mbeyaregion and in Kigoma region for coffeecrop.

Nanyumbu, Tandahimba, Newala,Masasi, Ndanda, Mtwara rural dis-tricts in Mtwara region; Nachingwea,Liwale, Lindi urban and Ruangwa dis-tricts in Lindi region; for cashew nutcrop. And Kilombero district inMorogoro region, Magu, Misungwi andNgudu in Mwanza for paddy crop.

Warehouse Receipt Financing canbe introduced to all other non-perish-able crops with minimum production of10,000MTs and above, adequate stor-age facilities lincensed by TWLB andwith multiple marketing options.

Emergent farmer loan productIn addition to the smallholder seg-

ment, the bank has identified emergingfarmers as a potentially attractive agri-cultural segment. Emerging farmersare typically larger than smallholders,have a more entrepreneurial mentali-ty, have a basic level of financial man-agement and are growth oriented.

The Emergent Farmer Loan prod-uct aims to assist medium/emergingfarmers improve their farm productivi-ty, access to finance and facilitategrowth to new level/category of com-mercial farmers.

The bank is currently developingthe emergent farmer loan productwhich will be launched before end of2013. The bank believes that theemerging farmer project will be anoth-er milestone towards the bank ambi-tion to become a bank of choice for fi-nancing agriculture in Tanzania.

Commercial farmers financingIn addition to serving small and

subsistence farmers through groups/co-operatives and other farmer associa-tions, emergent farmers; the bank havestarted financing larger sized commer-cial farmers for selected crops such ascoffee, paddy/rice, cashew, wheat, bar-ley, high value crops and other animalprotein sectors.

The segment is still small in

Tanzania. However, the commercialfarmers segment is potentially attrac-tive due to assumed availability of fi-nancial and technical information, theprofessionalism of management andthe economies of scale (also the loanamounts are bigger).

The bank have invested in the agri-culture sector information systems toenable the bank to track individual’sfarmer performance and make judge-ments on credit applications.

Proper credit structuring, rigorousmonitoring in combination with en-forceable collaterals is the basis for fi-nancing this category of customers.Which include thorough assessment ofthe management capabilities of the en-trepreneur.

Investment/Development LoansThese are loans offered for non

working capital purpose, they involvelong term investment and hence theloan repayment period lasts for morethan one year and in most cases the fi-nanced project becomes part of collater-al of the loan.

These loans include: Loans for pur-chase of farm machines, constructionsof warehouses, and other farm infra-structures such as irrigation struc-tures, equipments and other farm long-term investments.

In its efforts to enhance good gov-ernance and transparency; financialliteracy and technical know-how, NMBBank in collaboration with RabobankFoundation established NMBFoundation

…about NMB Foundation forAgricultural Development

The NMB Foundation forAgricultural Development (NFAD) is anon-profit company limited by guaran-tee, founded by the RabobankFoundation and NMB Bank PLC.

The aim is to strengthen the man-agement of the farmers associationsand cooperatives with its members interms of leadership, governance, mar-keting and financial skills as well as

production techniques and technologyto improve yield in terms of quantityand quality of the produce in order toincrease their income and reducepoverty hence become sustainable andbankable.

Therefore NFAD main activitiesinclude Cooperatives’ capacity buildingin governance, marketing, planning,and financial literacy and productivityimprovements.

Trainings are provided in the fol-lowing four main modules: cooperativegood governance, marketing and loanadministration, strategy and planning,and productivity enhancement, includ-ing agronomy.

The modules provide members andelected leaders with capacity to governtheir co-operatives professionally, in-crease efficiency, financial literacy, andcreating economies of scale to increasetheir profitability and therefore becomesustainable and bankable.

Agribusiness Knowledge build up NMB’s service delivery to the agri-

culture sector goes beyond financing.The bank believe that agriculturalmarkets knowledge and timely dissem-ination of the appropriate market in-formation to stakeholders is key tosucessful agricultural business.

It is from that background thatNMB has a dedicated research unit forcollection of relevant data for dissemi-nation to bank staff, customers andstakeholders in Agriculture sector.

NMB Research Unit is supportedby Rabobank’s Food and AgribusinessResearch (FAR) in collection of usefuldata for all stakeholders in the agricul-ture value chains.

…about Rabobank Food andAgribusiness Research (FAR)Advisory

Rabobank Food and AgribusinessResearch Advisory (FAR) isRabobank’s global Food andAgribusiness (F&A) knowledgeprovider.

FAR comprises of a global team ofanalysts that continuously accumulateknowledge in major F & A sector, is-sues and trends. This knowledge isused within the bank, shared withclients and stakeholders.

FAR covers F & A sectors world-wide, focusing on Animal Protein,Beverages, Dairy, Farm Inputs, FoodRetails and Consumer Behavior, Fruits& Vegetables, grains & Grains BasedProducts, Oilseeds Complex and Sugar.

Emphasis is on covering all rele-vant issues throughout the food chain,from production to consumer, frombrand strategies to environmental is-sues, from world trade flows to chaincontrol.

Rabobank’ s F&A publications areproduced by FAR and mirror thebank’s extensive knowledge of F&Asector trends and corporate strategies.They are intended for use as knowledgedocuments in the Bank’s work forclients and contribute to the pool of spe-cialized knowledge of other stakehold-ers involved in food and agribusinessvalue chains.

FINANCEThe Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Thursday 31 October, 2013

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By Kilimo Kwanza Reporter

Bank’s inroads

NMB is firmly committedto its vision of being thepreferred financial serv-ice partner in Tanzaniaoffering affordable, cus-tomer focused, financial

services to the Tanzanian community,in order to realise sustainable benefitsfor all our stakeholders.

Currently, NMB has over 1.8 mil-lion customers, over 150 branches, over500 ATMs and over 1.3 Million ATMcards and operates on real time onlinein 95 per cent of the nation’s adminis-trative districts. With 60 per cent of itsbranches located in rural areas, and 35per cent in otherwise unbanked dis-tricts, NMB is a key player in the fi-nancial inclusion in a country whereonly 13 per cent of adult population isformally banked.

The bank pioneered major innova-tions in the Tanzanian market includ-

ing mobile banking, Pesa Fasta, andATM based remittance product target-ed at the unbanked population; we alsosupport the Government of Tanzaniathrough all our branches and redeem-ing agriculture input subsidy vouchersfor the past five years.

NMB is also making inroads inCorporate Banking, Treasury, andTransactional Services such as corpo-rate payments, collections, trade fi-nance and aspires to become the firstbank of choice for financing agriculturevalue chains in Tanzania.

The bank continues to enhance itsagriculture financing strategy to covernot only in the upstream targetinggroups/cooperatives, individual farm-ers ranging from emerging to largecommercial farmers, but also in thedownstream to finance traders, proces-sors, and exporters.

NMB Bank has fully fledgedAgribusiness Department, which isahead of the market in innovating suc-cessful models for financing smallhold-er farmers such as the use of ware-

house receipt financing, out-growerloan schemes and NMB KilimoAccount.

The focus going forward is to linkthe smallholder farmers with the restof the value chain downstream by in-troducing new products for emergingfarmers, large commercial farmers fi-nancing, processors and exporters.

The emerging farmer program willbe in partnership with agriculture in-put suppliers, extension services &technology providers, and other sup-ports from key stakeholders in the agri-culture sector. Taking agribusiness tothe next level is our motto and will con-tinue to develop and execute strategiestowards becoming a first bank of choicefor financing agriculture value chain inTanzania. Currently our Agri productfall into two categories i.e. working cap-ital (short term loans/overdrafts) andAgricultural midterm to long term in-vestment loans

Out grower loan schemeOut grower loans are designed to

facilitate farmers dealing with produc-tion of crops under contract farmingarrangement to get working capital tomeet costs of farming, inputs purchase,crop maintenance, harvesting and oth-er related crop development costs.

The scheme involves tripatite rela-tionship i.e. the Bank as financier, thebuyer/processor and the farmer/produc-er. The bank finances crop inputswhich are either delivered by the off-taker or agri-input dealers.

The harvest is contracted to the off-taker who pays the crop proceedsthrough the bank whereby the over-draft is repaid and the remainder isavailable for the farmer/producergroup.

The scheme is now operating in thefollowing sectors: sugar cane – inKilombero and Turiani districts inMorogoro Region, and tobacco – inMbeya, Ruvuma, Tabora, Kigoma,Kagera and Shinyaga regions respec-tively

The scheme can also be introducedin other crops being produced under

Bank commits to service agricultural sector

“The bank continues toenhance its agriculturefinancing strategy tocover not only in theupstream targetinggroups/cooperatives,individual farmersranging from emergingto large commercialfarmers, but also in thedownstream to financetraders, processors, andexporters

“These loans include:Loans for purchase offarm machines,constructions ofwarehouses, and otherfarm infrastructures suchas irrigation structures,equipments and otherfarm long-terminvestments

By Iddy Lujina, Pass

Establishment

The Private AgriculturalSector Support (Pass)was established in2000 under theAgricultural SectorProgram Support. It

operated as a project till 2007, whenit was registered as a Trust.

Pass Trust is now an independ-ent organisation in high demand forits agri-business advisory servicesand financial linkage services. It op-erates as service provider betweenthe agricultural sector and the fi-nancial sector.

LoansPass’s clients comprise groups

of small farmers, individual farm-ers, agro-processors etc whose num-ber has reached around 100,000, sofar and facilitated loans of above100 billion/-.

In 2012, Pass supported agri-business enterprises and farmergroups, Saccos, cooperatives, farm-ers associations and women groupsinvolved in agricultural activities.

In the past year alone, over20,540 farmers all over Tanzaniagot loans worth 30.5 billion/- for in-puts, irrigation, tractors, agro- pro-cessing and trucks.

SupportThe main focus of Pass is to fa-

cilitate value chain financing cover-ing all needs of agro-entrepreneurs-from the farm to the table. It assistsits clients in preparing sound andbankable investment projects andfacilitating access to financethrough credit guarantee arrange-ments operated with commercialbanks.

Currently, Pass Trust assistscustomers to get loans througheight banks; CRDB , Exim , TIB ,FBME , NMB, ABC, BOA. In 2011we added Kilimanjaro CooperativeBank and plans are at hand to linkup with more community banksand rural financial institutions.

Impressive productivity gainshave been achieved in supportedprojects in various sub-sectors in-cluding coffee, tea, paddy, maize,cotton, sunflower, cashew nuts, sug-ar cane, sesame, poultry, dairy, beeffattening etc.

In 2012, Pass supported loansin crop and livestock production,farm mechanisation, agro process-ing and trading and trucks for ruraltransportation.

The support has created thou-sands of new jobs in the rural areas.PASS has gone further by settingspecial concessionary loan terms forwomen entrepreneurs to enablethem qualify for more bank loans.

Loan repaymentPass has also achieved an excel-

lent loan repayment rate of over 93per cent, and the collaborating

banks are progressively gettingmore encouraged in financing agri-cultural investments.

As the demand for PASS servic-es is growing fast, PASS is reorgan-izing and equipping itself to solvenew challenges.

New Pass offices in Moshi,Mtwara

The outreach of Pass Trust cov-ers coastal areas through the Daroffice, the Southern Highlandsthrough the Mbeya office and theLake Zone through the Mwanza of-fice. Others are, the Northern zonethrough Moshi office and Mtwaraoffice for Southern zone.

The available credit guaranteefund will enable Pass to mobiliseadditional credit into the agricul-tural sector to the tune of about 150billion/- in the next three years.

Pass cushions credit risksWe call upon all banks that are

interested in providing loans to theagriculture sector to contact us sothat we could work together to solvesome of their key constraints.

We would provide banks andfarmers’ consultancy and advisoryservices for preparation of bankablebusiness plans. We understand thatmany banks refuse to provide loansto the agriculture sector becausemost customers do not have accept-able collateral cover.

However, this should no longerbe the case. Pass Trust does offercredit guarantees to banks for vi-able investments.

Our guarantee cover rangesfrom 30 per cent to 60 per cent ofthe loan principal which is signifi-cant and would enable many bor-rowers to pass the “security” crite-ria.

New ProductsBank linkage guaranteePass Trust has introduced new

products recently, Bank LinkageGuarantee (Institutional guaran-tee) and Portfolio Guarantee so asto widen the range of our support tofacilitate more credit access to theagricultural sector.

Bank Linkage Guarantee is avery popular one, as it assists com-munity banks and microfinance in-stitutions, to secure loans frommore liquid tier 1 banks. We pro-vide guarantees to enable MFIs andregional banks to qualify for suchloans.

Portfolio guaranteesFor banks that have enough

track record of providing loans tofarmers, we offer this type of creditguarantee. It allows the lender tocover many farmers at once withoutwaiting for business plans fromeach borrower.

The bank is expected to be fullyconversant with the customer’sbusiness. This, fast tracks loan andguarantee processing and expeditesapproval of facilities substantially.

Pass initiative leadsthe way for KilimoKwanza success

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZAVALUE


9COVER STORYThe Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Thursday 31 October, 2013

8

Latest reports indicatethat cashew nutsproduction in Tanzaniamay decrease as globaldemand increases. Thereverse trend suggeststhat, despite investingtoo much sweats andblood in a crop thatelsewhere earns peoplegood money, Tanzanianfarmers should bracefor more disappointingreturns. Read on…By Staff Writer, Ansaf

Meagre returns

WHILE the global de-mand for cashewnutis growing and pro-jected to continue togrow, local produc-tion is likely to fall in

the next few years unless serious meas-ures are taken.

Research has shown that the worldneeds more cashew nuts from Africa asmuch as eight per cent more everyyear, hence, the global investment cli-mate and interest from cashew buyersis greater than ever before.

Records from the CashewnutBoard of Tanzania (CBT) indicate thatproduction in Tanzania increased to120,000 tonnes during the 2010/11 sea-son, up from 75,000 tonnes in the pre-vious season. But there are indicationsthat the good harvests may not contin-ue for long due to several factors, in-cluding lack of new trees and motiva-tion for farmers to continue caring acrop whose returns are less than theyshould be as compared to the globalmarket.

Old treesA research commissioned by the

Agricultural Non State Actors Forum(Ansaf) shows that old trees will poseone of the biggest threats by the year2020. It shows that there are up to 15million unproductive trees which wereplanted before 1985.

Audax Rukonge, Ansaf executivedirector, says that the research re-vealed that $110 million is needed tobuy enough seedlings and deliver themto farmers to double the Tanzaniancashew crop size. It is estimated thatthe country has between 40 and 50 mil-lion cashew trees, most of which wereplanted in the 1950s and 1960s, with amarked decline in planting since themid-1970s.

However, new plantings startedagain in the early nineties and by thelate nineties, more and more peopleplanted cashew. But today, probably

only between 20 and 25 million cashewtrees are productive. “There is a direneed for new seeds to replace the oldtrees, some of which are no longer pro-ductive,” observes Rukonge.

Many farmers still depend on theold trees despite the government effortsto convince them to grow other crops.The farmers can cut down some of theold cashew-nut trees and plant newones.

CBT director general, MfaumeJuma admits that the issue of old treesis serious because it would affect pro-duction, but maintained that farmershave access to new seeds to help en-counter the problem. He says the prob-lem varies from one region to anotheras in some areas farmers have plantednew trees that will replace the old ones.

Regions known for cashew nutgrowing include Mtwara, Lindi, Coast,Ruvuma and Dar es Salaam.Production in Coast Region has, how-ever, been dwindling over the years, asfarmers seem to lose interest in thecrop.

"Farmers in Coast Region shouldwake up and improve production ofcashew nuts. They should not let the

crop collapse like coconuts," Jumastresses.

Dr Peter Masawe of NaliendeleResearch Institute also agrees that

there was need to replace the old trees,though he noted that some of them canstill produce nuts.

During the 2012/13 season, farm-ers in the region produced only 9,000tonnes of the total 120,000 tonnes pro-duced in the country.

Ditching cashewBesides old trees, farmers in some

of the regions are increasingly shiftingto cultivation of other crops, which ma-ture faster and are less costly in termsof needed inputs. They are unhappywith the input supply value, citing poorservices from traders who win govern-ment tenders to supply subsidized in-puts. Main complaints are on the inad-equacy of quantity of inputs of theproduct delivered. The inputs were re-vised last year following the unsuccess-ful tenderer for 2011/12 season to deliv-er inputs.

Liwale resident, Mohamed Mpoto,confirmes that many farmers in the re-gion have turned to growing sesame(sim sim) which is not costly to main-tain, and matures earlier than cashewnuts.

He cites the high cost of farm in-puts to main cashew trees, poor market

structure and limited income as themain reasons forcing farmers to seekalternative crops.

Concerns about priceInvestigations have revealed that a

company linked to a prominentMember of Parliament (name with-held) which imports sulphur dust thatcontrols powdery mildew reportedly setprices too high.

The prices paid by farmers rangefrom 20,000/- to 35,000/- per kilo-gramme. Average prices are equivalentto $1265 per tonne without subsidy.The international market price for sul-phur as quoted Cfr Dar es Salaam fromthe same source that supplied the prod-uct last year is $680 per tonne.

Quotations from a United Statessupplier for sulphur for the same spec-ification are as low as $200 per tonne inbulk. “Clearly the landing and distribu-tion of the product is a heavy cost but,nonetheless it obvious that sulphurprices are too high even after the sub-sidy” stated a source close to the supplychain.

Delay of inputs Worse still, is delay in providing

the chemicals. For instance farmersneed to spray their plants in April, butnormally receive the chemicals in July.A loss of at least 80-100 per cent is re-alized when the trees are not sprayedon time.

On the challenges facing the sub-sector, the Minister for Agriculture,Food Security and Cooperatives,Christopher Chiza, says the govern-ment is aware of the problems and isworking hard to solve them.

The minister doesn’t state specificmeasures the government is currentlytaking, but promises “a lot of changes”in the 2013/14 fiscal year.

Gas: A threat, or blessing?The discoveries of oil and gas in

Mtwara and Lindi regions are also athreat to the future of cashew sector, asmost farmers reportedly abandon farm-ing to work in oil and gas companies.

According to the TanzaniaPetroleum Development Corporation(TPDC), there are eight firms fromBritain, Brazil and Norway conductingdeep sea explorations for oil and gas.With the good money the firms arecoming with, more poor farmers arelikely to leave cashew nut trees un-weeded, seeking employment in gasand oil sector.

A farmer from Mtwara, AbdallahJuma, says he has decided to work inone of the gas companies since cashewnut farming has become more demand-ing and less profitable.

“We cannot withstand the chal-lenges that go with cashew nut produc-tion anymore, and since God hasblessed our region with new resources,let us reap from them,” he stresses.

Why cashew nut production maydecrease as global demand increases

““…old trees will poseone of the biggestthreats by the year 2020.It shows that there areup to 15 millionunproductive treeswhich were plantedbefore 1985

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By Staff Writer, Ansaf

Dar reclines

SOMETIME in the past,Tanzania was the worldleader in the cashew busi-ness. However, now thecountry has reclined in theglobal market to other

countries, such as Brazil and India, de-spite producing better nuts, accordingto the latest findings.

Records show that Tanzanian inshell nuts makes some of the highestprices in India every year due to highquality and seasonality. Lack of pro-cessing facilities is increasingly de-creasing production and apathy to im-prove quality force in the country.

The industry is suffering from lackof new ideas, motivation and facilitiesthat can still make the country one ofthe major global players in the sector.

According to a recent study by theAgricultural Non State Actors Forum(Ansaf) indicates that Tanzania pro-duced 158,000 tonnes of quality cashewnuts in shell in 2011/12.

But only 15 per cent, being about23700 tonnes of the crop processed in

country, and the trend is even likely toget worse.

Ansaf executive director, AudaxRukonge, notes that in the past fiveyears Tanzania, by exporting in shellcashew nuts instead of processingthem, has lost US$551 million in valueaddition that’s US$110 million per an-num.

He says that the $110 million couldbuild enough modern, food safe cashewfactories to process the entireTanzanian crop. “This amount of mon-ey could also buy enough seedlings anddeliver them to farmers to double theTanzanian cashew crop size,” he adds.

Processing the entire crop, henotes, would have added US$750 mil-lion to the rural economy over the pastfive years.

Losses in terms of jobsBy way of exporting the raw nuts,

the country not only goes on losing itswealth in terms of profits, but also ig-nores the potential of generating ahuge number of jobs.

Processing the crop would create45,000 jobs and in addition processorspay farmers better prices, makingthem to work hard to develop produc-tion and quality.

Rukonge attributes the low pro-cessing to the fact that the mechanised

factories built in the 1980’s neverworked and were probably never likelyto work. He says, “Care must be takenin basing any future development ofvalue added activity on these plants.”

Small scale processing, accordingto an Ansaf report, has shown to be suc-cessful only when there is a large do-mestic market or if it is linked to largerscale, modern factories.

The government should thereforeprioritise processing, through modernprocessing linked to farmers and linkedto small scale processors.

Some stakeholders argue that thesector is unlikely to attract more in-vestors to invest in processing due tochallenges in the cashew sector as awhole.

Investors are unlikely to put mil-lions of dollars in processing facilitieswhen their supply is decided by an auc-tion which is inefficient and rumouredto be corrupt and prone to political in-terference.

The value added industry ofcashew processing is absent inTanzania, as in other African countries.

New driveNow, a continental cashew associa-

tion dubbed, African Cashew Alliance

(Aca), is in place to promote a campaignto add value to its nuts and to encour-age higher production, better qualityand marketing Africa as a source ofquality cashews.

According to Aca, currently theAfrican cashew industry employs threemillion households, but is dogged by de-pressed prices and dwindling produc-tion.

Mozambique and Tanzania, whowere the main global producers, havebeen edged out of the top positions byIndia, Vietnam, and Brazil, whose re-spective processing capacities are750,000, 300,000 and 300,000 tonnesrespectively.

While world cashew production hasincreased, Africa’s share has decreasedsteadily with current output of about300,000 tonnes which is less than halfits potential of 700,000 tonnes, accord-ing information available in the Acawebsite.

Potential for good moneyAccording to an agency that is help-

ing to revamp cashew industry inAfrica known as TechnoServe, cashewprocessing can generate annual rev-enues for Africa as high as $500 millionby 2015 of which 40 per cent would goto wages for manual labour.

TechnoServe claims that not onlyAfrican processors need to be competi-tive in four specific areas which includebroken nut yields, reduction of produc-tion costs, working capital rates, main-taining quality and reputation.

Deterioration of qualityProcessors must also have access to

quality nuts to assure long term indus-try viability.

One of the major challenges is thedeterioration of the quality of cashews.According to Donald Mitchell, a LeadEconomist with DECPG, the quality ofTanzania’s raw cashew nut exports hasdeteriorated since the marketing liber-alization of 1994/95.

This is apparent from the events ofthis past year, when early shipmentswere rejected by Indian importers andalso from comparison of export unit val-ues calculated from the Food andAgriculture Organisation (Fao) databefore and after liberalisation.

The average export unit values forTanzanian cashew nuts declined to14.8 per cent from the pre-to post-liber-alisation period compared with the oth-er sub-Saharan African countries.

Bleak futureStatistics from every one of Africa’s

big producers paint a bleak picture inprocessing. Guinea Bissau, the secondbiggest producer in Africa and the fifthin the world, produces 90,000 tonnesand almost all the production is export-ed for processing in India and that 80per cent of the population is connectedto the industry.

Analysts say a viable processing in-dustry in the country could create over40,000 direct jobs and generate $40million in incremental processing rev-enues annually.

According to TechnoServeTanzania, a single factory that process-es 1,000 tonnes of cashew nut per an-num would create 300 jobs double ex-port earnings from the cashew crop andsupport 10,000 growers.

Value added cashew nuts can turnthe Tanzanian economy around

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“…in the past five yearsTanzania, by exporting inshell cashew nutsinstead of processingthem, has lost US$551million in value additionthat’s US$110 million perannum

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZASPECIAL REPORT


11MARKETThe Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Thursday 31 October, 2013

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By Felix Lazaro

Myriad opportunities

There are numerous domes-tic market opportunitiesfor cashew nuts inTanzania, if suppliers areorganised and equippedwith business skills, work-

ing capital and good market linkages, astudy has revealed.

The study, titled, ‘Market Surveyfor Roasted Cashew Nuts in Tanzania’,was commissioned by Lindi andMtwara Agri-business Support (Limas)in December 2011, to assess the domes-tic market for roasted cashew, with es-sential objective to estimate the marketsize and viability of accessing the mar-kets.

The specific proposed areas for at-tention include, developing cashew ker-nels distribution channels, and ad-dressing the limited investment in de-veloping cashew nut supply channels inDar es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza andZanzibar.

That is because the current struc-ture is prone to erratic deliveries andpoor quality of cashew, Limas can findways to link suppliers and processors in

Lindi and Mtwara with potentialtraders in the cities.

“The partnership should aim towork together to develop a one-stopshop cashew supply point, educate thesuppliers on market dynamics likeprice setting mechanism, quality, logis-tics and packaging and prepare feasi-bility study to determine the practicali-ty of having the two hubs in Mtwaraand Dar es Salaam,” notes the report.

In the partnership, processors areexpected to mobilise cashew nuts intovarious grades, bulking and packaginginto various sizes as well as arrangetransport for taking the produce to Dares Salaam.

Another area was the need for im-proving product shelf life through vacu-um packing, which was noted to haveaffected a number of traders and super-markets.

Taking advantage of untappedmarket segment such as hotels, be-cause few hotels sell cashew as productat a very high margin, caterers throughinnovation on packaging to portrayprestige, offices can be serviced withthe cashew as well.

It also noted the need to improveproduct image to alley the allegations ofhealth risks associated with the way

vendors were packing nuts in the past.They used low density nylon packetsand breathed the air in to inflate.

According to the survey, the cashewnut that is well packed stands to winpotential markets for visitors fromMiddles East who are cautious ofcooked foods when on safaris.

“The crop is consumed by middleand high income people, these preferproducts which are well packaged andbranded,” according to the report.

Packaging standards The government needs to issue

standards on packing, such as 100gms,200gms, 500gms and

1000gms, which should be observedsince some vendors reportedly, cheatconsumers.

The information of the researchwas collected from more than 50 re-spondents who are involved in chain ascaterers, hoteliers, supermarket opera-tors, office personnel, market operatorin Dar es Salaam and from Arusha, thesubjects were among transporters, ven-dors and certifying bodies.

During the collection of data, anumber of issues came out, which areexpected to help develop the cashewnut marketing system which will em-power both traders and farmers.

The research revealed a number ofhindrances from the cashew nut roast-er enterprises include costs involved inthe chain like transport, and costs ofpackaging. Kilimanjaro Nature Ripe(KNR) hires a pick up at between 15,000/- and 20,000/- and for a 1.5 unload-ing from the bus and loading into thepick up costs Sh10, 000.

Mohammed Enterprises TanzaniaLimited (METL) reported that it sup-plies cashew to limited supermarkets ofShirejee, Jmall and Shoppers Plaza,limiting its channels to avoid costs as-sociated with channel management.

“In the past METL had an agent inArusha, however, they stopped the re-lationship to reduce the cost of manag-ing distribution channels because vol-umes could not justify,” notes the re-port.

Lack of capitalOn difficulties in accessing the

loans, Ebenezer Nuts Packer in Arusharesponded that it sources capital fromMwananchi micro-finance andNational Microfinance Bank, and got1.4 million/- and 1 million/- at an inter-est rate 30 per cent per annum and 18per cent, respectively. She goes toMwananchi because there are fewerforms to fill than NMB.

Kempinsk Hotel in Dar es Salaamreported that cashew nut supply is af-fected by seasonality of supply. FromOctober to February supply is good,while from March to June the supplydecreases to about 40 per cent ofOctober – March and from July toSeptember, there is very little cashewin the market.

The East African Hotel in Arushanoted the quality challenge as the chal-lenge it faces, since the hotel is a 3–star, it is compelled to provide highquality services and foods.

“There had been cases wherecashew delivered was of poor quality,irregular in shape and not clean, some-time the hotel is compelled to sort thecashew and it is normal to find 25 percent of the supply unfits for use assnack,” according to the report.

The study also reviewed some stud-ies done about cashew nut in Tanzaniaand found that Dai-Pesa in 2003 re-ported that in 2002 Tanzania produced93,000 MT of raw nuts, some 15,000MT or 16.1 per cent were processed lo-cally by premier nuts, MohammedEnterprise, OLAM, OETF and informalprocessors.

At the time Tanzania produced3,400mt kernels and consumed 490mtrepresented about 14.4 per cent of thekernels. The report further indicatedthat that out of the 490mt consumed lo-cally, 400 came from informal (micro-scale) processors. Converting the490mt of kernels gives 2,450mt of rawnuts or 2.6% of the annual national rawcashew production.

Later in 2006, a report by Bacas in-dicated that Tanzania exports morethan 90 per cent of the nuts in raw formand that “In Tanzania only 2-4% ofprocessed nuts are consumed withinthe country compared to some 20% inKenya”

Study unveils great marketpotential for roast cashew nuts

“The crop is consumedby middle and highincome people, theseprefer products whichare well packaged andbranded

By Juma Ngumuo, TGFA

Youths’ role

The role of young people inthe agricultural sector hasbeen debated extensivelyfor the good reasons oflooking at ways to delveinto them. Youth unem-

ployment is a huge challenge with po-tentially severe consequences.

The ministry of Labour and Youthhas developed a Youth Policy, and ad-ministers a Youth Development Fund,and the government funds a SmallEntrepreneurs Loan Fund targeted toempower youths and other groups.

There has been an advocacy andstakeholder’s involvement that ad-dresses the need to make sure that thestrategies and regulations to imple-ment policies are well shared to achievethe intended objectives, with govern-ment and private sectors as key stake-holders.

It is obvious that employment andfood security, the economy, climaticchanges, and population increaseworldwide require purpose initiativesand projects.

ChallengesThe agricultural sector is currently

a source of livelihood to majority ofAfricans, especially those residing inrural areas. The sector employs manypeople in the African continent. Despiteits importance to the economy, the sec-tor faces myriad of challenges.

One of those challenges is that thesector remains largely traditional, con-centrated in the hands of small holderengaged with subsistence farming.Additionally, the level of investment isinsufficient to make meaningful contri-butions in the livelihood of farmers.The issues facing the backbone sectormake it unattractive to the youth.

However, one of the initiatives isgrowing forums to promote Youth in-volvement in productive activities isTanzania Youth in Agribusiness Forum(TYIAF) programme, which is a multi-sector initiative by members of the AgriHub Tanzania under Agri-Profocus.

On 26th October, 2013, a consor-tium of organisations under the Agri-ProFocus - Tanzania Chapter, namely,the Tanzania Graduate Farmers

Association (TGFA), ShambaniSolutions, Ibutti and 4-H Tanzaniaheld the Manyara Youth road-showwhich aimed at recognising and shar-ing achievements made by the youth-led enterprises and initiatives while ad-dressing opportunities and challengesfor engagement in agribusiness.

Manyara Region was then underArusha Region, but now it is a fully-flagged region with headquarters inBabati Town. The region has so manypotentials for agriculture such as cropproduction to animal husbandry withinvolvement of society in the sector.Manyara comprises the districts ofKiteto, Simanjiro, Hanang, Mbulu andBabati districts.

Speaking during the coordinationmeeting of TYIAF, Katarina Mungure,who is assistant coordinator of AgriHub Tanzania, said, “Manyara Roadshow follows the launch of theTanzania Youth in Agribusiness Forum(TYIAF) on 11th May, 2013”

She added, “Our youth forums areaimed at acknowledging achievements,appreciate challenges of youthagribusiness enterprises, youth rolemodels, young Agro entrepreneurs andprojects which support youths as wellas sharing the APF Tanzania online sothat youth can use the platform toshare, discuss, network and conductingbusiness through the online marketplace.”

“Nevertheless, the platform is alsoa place where stakeholders and thoseprimary beneficiaries in economic de-velopment to Share informationthrough knowledge and skills requiredon existing opportunities and how bestto tap into these opportunities throughempowering interested youths andyouth led initiatives,” she added.

Road showsTYIAF road shows are also geared

to bring all stakeholders for design andimplement strategies for business part-nership and knowledge sharing so as toengage more youth into Agribusinessas the road map will be agreed upon.

The initiative promotes issues re-lating to agribusiness such as investingopportunities, market opportunities,success stories, market places, researchfinding, ICT for Agriculture throughmultidisciplinary approaches and advo-cacy in action.

Through Agri Hub Network, theprogrammes is able to share and dis-cuss issues related to land, market, in-puts, farming as business and otherfarm related issues with differentstakeholders and agriculture practi-tioners.

It is worth now to involve primaryplayers in the agriculture sector andthrough ICT we can manage to shareopportunities, challenges and hencepromote solutions for the betterment ofthe sector which is the only one othersectors survive through food productionvalue chains.

Youth agri-entrepreneurs andyouth group representatives, youth-ledorganisations and companies, financialservice providers, telecom companies,secondary & college students, privatesector actors and losing potential buy-ers, input suppliers and business devel-opment service providers.

Katarina added that expected out-put of the forum are information on theagribusiness opportunities and sup-porting services in Manyara Region, assupport in agri-business start-up guide-lines and processes to attract moreyouths to invest into agri-business.

Also it will create better under-standing of the APF Tanzania networkand the role of the online platform inpromoting farmer entrepreneurship”.

Networks, linkages

Furthermore, it has been realisedthat networks and linkages will be de-veloped to nurture aspiring and grow-ing entrepreneurs hence collaborationand partnerships to as road map foryouth capacity building events suchmobilisation, entrepreneurship train-ings, business development, businesscompetition and advocacy for youth in-vestment in agribusiness opportunities.

It is clear that this 21st century isdominated by advanced technologicalcapacities, high productivity, modernand efficient transport and communica-tion infrastructure and above all, high-ly skilled and informed manpower im-bued with initiatives.

Communication infrastructuresand collective initiatives still remainkey for promoting youth developmentinitiatives. The need to promote agri-culture to be a professional sector andpaying enterprise to youths, it need alot of efforts.

“Medium youth agri-enterprises isa way forward towards addressing mul-tiple challenges and problems facing

the agricultural sector in the country asit has been experienced in manyAfrican states.

This platform is the only way toconnect the missing link between themin multidisciplinary approaches of ac-knowledging, recognizing and buildinga mutual understanding and participa-tion of small, medium and large scalefarmers with enterprising mindsets,”adds Stephano Kingazi, the TGFAchairperson.

"Agricultural literacy is importantfor the future of our nation and the dis-cipline of agriculture because the ma-jority of the public is now almost com-pletely removed from agriculture intheir daily life, it is of utmost impor-tance that best practices in agriculturaleducation are identified to ensure agri-cultural literacy is maintained in fu-ture generations of Americans.

Education, training methodsThe methods used to present agri-

cultural education to students cangreatly influence students' attitudes to-wards learning material. Riedmillerstates that the quality of a school gar-den or agricultural learning material isthe single most important factor influ-encing the knowledge, skills, and atti-tudes of youth learning about agricul-ture.

Ricketts and Place in 2005 ex-pressed the importance of youth "learn-ing by doing" and the belief of allowinglearners the opportunity for self-discov-ery learning.

The research had articulated thepositive benefits of agricultural educa-tion programmes for individuals in avariety of situations, such as nursinghome residents, prison inmates, hospi-tal patients, and disabled individualsand hands-on experiences with agricul-ture have been shown to create a sig-nificant increase in a student's knowl-edge.

Policy makers and agricultural andsocial development stakeholders shouldpromote and advocate policies that fitthe contemporary agribusiness envi-ronment in which youths are the keyplayers.

Making youths love,embrace agribusiness

“One of thosechallenges is that thesector remains largelytraditional,concentrated in thehands of small holderengaged withsubsistence farming

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13SPECIAL REPORTThe Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Thursday 31 October, 2013

12

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YARA Program 2

YARA Program 3

YARA Program 4

Current recommendation

Important announcement to our customers

According to recentlyamendment of fertilizerspolicy in the countrywhich has led the forma-tion of TanzaniaFertilities Regulatory

Authority (TFRA), YARA TanzaniaLtd would like to inform its customersand farmers in general that under thenew policy it’s strictly prohibited forsuppliers of fertilizers to sell fertilize inan open sacks or weighing.

In implement that Yara Tanzanialimited has started packing it’s fertil-izes in various weights from one, two,25 as well as 50 kilos.

It’s important for our dealers tomake sure that they do have all thetype of YARA fertilizes in variousweights for farmers at their surround-ing areas.

There is a huge profit in buying fer-tilize which is fully packed because itassures farmers quality as well as lossof fertilize during weighing.

It’s our aim to see and make surethat farmers get value of their moneyfor purchasing quality inputs whichwill results harvest as well as lift theirincome.

Yara, Your First Choice forbest Fertilize.

SPECIAL

SPECIA

LUYOLE MAIZE RESEARCH



15SPECIAL REPORTThe Guardian KILIMO KWANZA14


UYOLE MAIZE RESEARCH��

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YaraMila TM CEREAL is very well balanced in terms of essential macro and micro nutrients

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smallscale farmers who are not able to buy those essential nutrients separately. At most, low

resource farmers apply only N and P on the low side of the fertilizer response curve.

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N and P on the low side of the fertilizer response curve.

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application in maize in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania.

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rates up to the current recommendation of 120-130 kg N/ha

SPECIA

L

SPECIA

L

COLUMNThe Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Thursday 31 October, 2013

16

Eating healthy has now be-come as habitual to al-most everyone as sleep-ing, walking, or eventalking is. Around everycorner you are bound to

meet with someone obsessing overtheir weight or body and is determinedto change whatever it is that they dis-like by ‘eating right’.

However, eating right is not justmerely reducing one’s intake of junkfood, fats, or sugars, it is simply havinga balanced diet whenever you sit downto a meal. Ensuring that you take theright amounts of vitamins, fluids, pro-teins, minerals and so forth is vital tohaving a healthy diet.

A healthy diet is one that helpsmaintain or improve general health byproviding the body with essential nu-trition such as fluids, adequate essen-tial amino acids from proteins, essen-tial fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, andadequate calories. All this can be ob-tained from a variety of animal basedand plant based foods such as orangefleshed sweet potatoes in this case.

One should be able to get enoughenergy nutrition without exposure totoxicity or excessive weight gain fromconsuming excessive amounts whenthey are on a healthy diet. In this dayand age where everyone is fussing ontheir weight and how their body looksand feels like it is very important towatch what we eat and ensure we al-ways have a balanced diet but that is astory for another day.

One of the major issues affectingchildren and adults alike in the devel-oping world is the lack of vitamin A intheir diets.

This is a widespread problem thathas severe consequences especially foryoung growing children. The onset ofsustainable food based programs acrossAfrica has seen a solution to this prob-lem being initiated. Across countriessuch as Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda andMozambique orange-fleshed sweet po-tato (OFSP) programs are being usedas an appropriate and sustainable com-plement to supplementation of the vitalbeta-carotene and are well accepted byyoung children.

Worldwide, sweet potato is thesixth most important food crop afterrice, wheat, potatoes, maize, and cassa-va. But in developing countries, it is the

fifth most important food crop. Morethan 105 million metric tons are pro-duced globally each year; 95% of whichare grown in developing countries.

The million dollar question now iswhat is so important about orange-fleshed sweet potato?

Orange–fleshed sweet potato is animportant source of beta-carotene, theprecursor to Vitamin A. as little as125g of a fresh sweet potato root frommost orange-fleshed varieties containenough beta-carotene to provide thedaily pro-vitamin A needs of a schoolgoing child.

Vitamin A deficiency is rampant inSub-Saharan Africa, affecting 43 mil-lion children under age 5, and con-tributing to high rates of blindness, dis-ease, and premature death in childrenand pregnant women.

This variety of sweet potato is su-perior to the white-fleshed variety as itis a good source of energy and manyother vitamins such as C, A and B6 andminerals. Orange-fleshed sweet pota-toes not only offer better nutrition butare a tool for economic empowerment.

Sweet potato is mostly cultivatedand managed by women. The adoptionof improved varieties of the crop by ru-ral women provides an opportunity foreconomic empowerment as well as anoption to address Vitamin A deficiencywith a food-based approach.

Because orange-fleshed sweet pota-to is such a rich source of vitamin A,only a small area of land is needed toproduce enough vitamin A for a house-hold. And to top it all off the Vitamin Acomponent is largely retained when thesweet potato is boiled, steamed orroasted, so nothing goes to waste!

The importance of sweet potato asa food crop is growing rapidly in someparts of the world. In Sub-SaharanAfrica, it is outpacing the growth rateof other staples.

Sweet potato is used for both hu-man consumption and as a healthy,cheap source of animal feed. Recentstudies suggest that animals fed onhigh protein sweet potato vines pro-duce less methane gas than with otherfeed, potentially contributing to an im-portant reduction in harmful globalemissions.

For more info or comments:[email protected]

KILIMOKWANZADIRECTORY

WATER AND SANITATION

Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority(DAWASA) – Tel: +255 22 276 0006

Dar es Salaam Water and Sewarage Corporation(DAWASCO) Tel: +255 22-2131191/4

Drilling and Dam Construction Agency (DDCA)Tel: +255 22 2410430/2410299

Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority Tel: +255 22 2123850, 22 2123853

Balton Tanzania LimitedMikocheni Industrial Area, Cocacola Road.Tel: +255 22 2772826

Ministry of WaterTel: +255 22 245 1448

INDUSTRY SUPPORT ANDASSOCIATIONS

Small Industries Development Organization(SIDO) – Email: [email protected], [email protected]

ANSAF - P.O. Box 6370, Dar es Salaam

CNFA - [email protected]

Tractors LimitedCells: +255 784 421606, 786 150213

Consolidated Holdings Corporation (CHC)Tel: 255 (022) 2117988/9

Vocational Education and Training Authority(VETA) – Tel: +255 22 2863683/2863409

Export Processing Zones in Tanzania (EPZ)Tel: +255 22 2451827-9

Agricultural Economics Society of Tanzania(AGREST) – Tel. +255-23 260 3415

Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC)Tel: +255 22 2122984-6

Tanzania Agriculture Partnership (TAP)Tel: +255 22 2124851

Tanzania Milk Processors Association (TAMPA)Tel: +255 222 450 426

Rural Livelihood Development Company (RLDC)Tel: +255 26 2321455

Tanzania Cotton BoardTel: +255 22 2122564, 2128347

Horticultural Development Council of Tanzania (HODECT)Cell: +255 789 222 344; Fax: +255 27254 4568

TATEECO Ltd – Tel: +255 784 427817

AGRO-PROCESSING

ERTH Food - Tel: +255 22 2862040

MUKPAR Tanzania Ltd Tel: +255 28 250038/184

ASAS Diaries Limited - Tel: +255 26 2725200

Tanga Fresh – Tel +255 27 2644238

NatureRipe Kilimanjaro LimitedTel: +255 22 21 51457

EQUIPMENT

Gurudumu Tatu LimitedTel: +255 22 2865632 / 2863699

National Service Corporation Sole (SUMAJKT)Cell: +255 717 993 874, 715 787 887

FINANCE

Private Agricultural Sector Support (PASS)Tel: 023-3752/3758/3765

Cotton & Textile Development ProgrammeTel: +255 0718 835 679Email: [email protected]

www.best-ac.org

www.ansaf.or.tz www.yara.com

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By NicolasBegisen

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