CONSTRUCTION of three big cashew nut processing factories is scheduled to start early in the 2016/17 fiscal year, with the country’s processing capacity poised to rise to 30 per cent from the current 10 per cent.
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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