COOKING OIL: LET’S AIM TO BE FULLY SELF-SUFFICIENT

In recent months, Tanzania and much of the world have been labouring under seemingly endless shortages of edible oil. As a direct result of this, Tanzania is compelled to import the commodity from Malaysia, Indonesia and India, as well as from some neighbouring countries.

Currently, the country spends about $80 million (roughly Sh184 billion) a year to import some 350,000 tonnes of edible oil to make for the deficit in an annual consumption demand of about 600,000 tonnes.

In consequence whereof, retail/consumer prices of the different oil brands available in the country have been rising relentlessly.

Yesterday our lead story set out to explain why cooking oil prices have been on the rise in the recent past – and that there is no hope of the prices falling, or even stabilising, anytime soon.

This adverse development is compounded by closure of some oil factories across the world on account of insufficient – or uneconomic prices of – production inputs, including palm, groundnuts, sesame, soya beans, olive, canola, rapeseed, sunflower and cotton seeds.

Naturally enough, this results in increased consumer prices all round. For instance, a five-litre container of sunflower cooking oil currently retails at up to Sh40,000 in Dar es Salaam, having risen from Sh20,000 about six months ago.

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It is stressed that cooking oil prices have shot up because of the shortage of production inputs and the Covod-19 lockdowns; NOT because of mundane causes like tax hikes, transport costs, etc.

We strongly urge the government and other relevant institutions to support our farmers in bolstering production of cooking oil inputs through increased acreage, use of quality, highly-productive seeds and other good farming practices.

We should also make it worthwhile for prospective investors to “invade” the domestic oilseeds sub-sector for vastly increased production.

STOP QUACKS IN THEIR TRACKS

The problem of quacks posing as doctors seems to have refused to go away. It shows how low some people can stoop to put money in their pockets.

This is a manifestation of much wider rot in society that needs immediate fixing. It is no laughing matter since patients “treated” by these quacks may have been exposed to life threatening situations without their knowledge.

Not surprisingly, qualified doctors find themselves accused of abandoning their ethical calling to engage in gross misconduct because they have in their midst – knowingly or otherwise – people who are not supposed to be anywhere near a medical facility.

That is why we welcome the resolve by the Medical Association of Tanzania to launch a countrywide crackdown on quacks who have invaded the profession and are soiling the good name of qualified and ethical doctors.

We concur with MAT that some rotten apples among them have broken their vows and resorted to engaging in illegal activities to make quick money at the expense of their ethos and the wider public good.