Govt urged to scrap tax imposed on packaging materials, machines

By Felix Andrew

38th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF)

The government has been urged to scrap tax imposed on packaging materials and machines to allow food processors obtain them affordably and also for the government to invest more in packaging technology as support to entrepreneurship development.

A call was made yesterday at the ongoing 38th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) by an official of the East 2014 Afripack, Evans Gastor.


He also took the opportunity to announce that more than 100 Tanzanian entrepreneurs will take part in an exhibition on processing, packaging and converting technology to be held in Kenya this September.

The exhibition, to be held September 9 to 12, this year, has been organised by the association for packaging and processing technologies in partnership with United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) and East African Community (EAC) and has already attracted over 500 participants from East African states and beyond.

He said the exhibition is designed to become the standard setting event for the innovation and technological development of SMEs in the EAC and bordering countries through processing and packaging technology.

He urged Tanzanian entrepreneurs to take part in the exhibition that will help minimize the challenges facing the industry.

He said at the moment, most packaging materials being used by entrepreneurs are not of quality standard and as a result, they find it difficult to penetrate the market.

“As you know packaging is a very important aspect of marketing, it is very difficult to sell a product that is poorly packaged,” he said.

Speaking to this paper, an aspirant Tanzanian participant of the exhibition, entrepreneur Magdalena Rahisi, appealed to government to avail packaging materials for their products noting that the lack of packaging materials is one of the major challenges they face in marketing their products.

“This is a serious problem,” she lamented “…there is a dire shortage of packaging materials and the government should step in and increase the number of manufacturing firms and scrap taxes on importation of the materials,” she added.

Another Tanzanian entrepreneur, Briggite Kisega, seconded the view adding: “The government should also educate more entrepreneurs on packaging processes as a vital component to product marketing and sector development.”

She said for years now, entrepreneurs in Tanzania have been suffering major losses which could otherwise be avoided if they were exposed to basic skills in storage and packaging.

“It is common to find in our local markets, rice being sold without proper packaging. This has got to change,” she observed. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN