By ADAM IHUCHA
Cashew nut farmers in Tanzania have a little to celebrate
this season as their cash crop fetches the lowest range of prices compared to
the last period.
Sources say sluggishness in the market due to a decline in
demands in the export markets has caused a 17 percent slump in the farm gate
prices, during the current season.
Indicative price for top quality raw cashew nut has dropped
to Tsh 1,000 or $0.625 per kg this season, compared to Tsh 1,200 or $0.75
offered in the last crop term.
Cashew Board of Tanzania (CBT) Vice-chairman, Mudhihir
Mudhihir says the second quality fetches Tsh 800 or $0.5 per kg compared to Tsh
1,000 or $0.625 last year.
CBT anticipates purchasing a total of 150,000 metric tonnes
of cashew nuts this season, up from 130,000 tonnes in 2012/2013 season.
Expectations were high that thousands of cashew nut farmers
would raise their glasses to toast for remarkable earnings this year,
particularly after being experienced favorable weather, but poor prices have
turned the prospects into nightmares.
Tanzania is Africa’s largest cashew nut grower after Nigeria
and Ivory Coast, and the world’s eighth biggest producer.
Cashew nut is an important export crop for Tanzania,
accounting for more than $140 million in foreign currency earnings.
The 2012 CBT report indicates that Tanzania exported nearly
158,000 metric tonnes of cashew nuts in the last season.
However, although 90 percent of the crop was harvested
in the country, less than 10 percent was processed locally.
Agricultural Non-State Actors Forum Director
General Audax Rukonge says the country loses nearly Tsh176 billion or $110
million for exporting raw cashew nuts annually, as no value is added to the
kernels.
He says whereas in India figures of cashew imports from
Tanzania have doubled, the figures recorded locally are undervalued.
“If the country improves processing plants, cashew
production will double from the current 158,000 tonnes annually to 250,000
tonnes” Mr Rukonge noted.
There are only three operational plants located in Mtwara,
Dar es Salaam and Newala which can process not more than 20,000 tonnes a year
out of the country’s production volume of over 150,000 tonnes of cashew nuts
annually.
National Social Security Fund’s Director General, Dr. Ramadhan
Dau says that plans are underway to venture into cashew nut processing not only
to rake in profits, but also to create employments.
Traditionally, Tanzania has been exporting its cashew nuts in a raw form and fetches low prices.
The World market price for raw cashew nut is less than $1 per kg, but the same processed by breaking the outer shell; would fetch $7.
In a country where the rate of unemployment stands at 10.7 percent, Dr. Dau says, it is unwise to export raw materials to foreign markets because by so doing, the country not only exports jobs, but also the proceeds that it receives in foreign exchange is low compared to what it would have otherwise earned if the commodities were exported as finished products.
Traditionally, Tanzania has been exporting its cashew nuts in a raw form and fetches low prices.
The World market price for raw cashew nut is less than $1 per kg, but the same processed by breaking the outer shell; would fetch $7.
In a country where the rate of unemployment stands at 10.7 percent, Dr. Dau says, it is unwise to export raw materials to foreign markets because by so doing, the country not only exports jobs, but also the proceeds that it receives in foreign exchange is low compared to what it would have otherwise earned if the commodities were exported as finished products.
Cashew nuts provide an important source of income for some
250,000-smallholder farmers in the southern coastal regions of Coast, Lindi,
Mtwara, and Ruvuma.
It accounts for 80-90 percent of Tanzania’s marketed cashew
crop.
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