Cashewnut farmers take their case to Parliament

Dar es Salaam. Cashewnut farmers have requested an audience with Members of Parliament in a fresh twist to the uproar over the proposed changes to the Cashewnut Industry Act, 2009.

The cashewnut growers are said to have written to National Assembly Speaker Job Ndugai through the Tandahimba Farmers Association (Tafa).

In a letter (number TAFA/001/2018), signed by Tafa secretary general Moyo Mshamu, the farmers also want to meet Agriculture minister Charles Tizeba in Dodoma on Sunday. This comes a few days after the government gazetted the 2018/19 Financial Bill, which among other things, proposes that all export levy collections will be deposited in the Consolidated Fund.

Currently, 65 per cent of export levy collections is channelled to the fund of the Cashewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT), while the government gets the remaining 35 per cent.

MPs and representatives of cashew nut growers Wednesday faulted the government’s proposal saying it would negatively impact growth and prosperity of the crop.

The Bill was published in the Official Gazette on June 12, 2018, and will be tabled for debate at the end of the Parliament’s Budget sitting.

Cashewnut farmers say they risk losing Sh211 billion the government owes them should the Bill be passed.

The National Assembly clerk, Mr Stephen Kagaigai, said his office had not received the farmers’ letter.

“I have not seen it; maybe they sent it directly to the Speaker’s office,” he said in a telephone interview with The Citizen.

But Mchinga MP Hamidu Bobali said he was aware of the meeting, and he would participate.

Tunduru South MP Daimu Mpakate (CCM) said he had seen the letter, and would attend.

A delegation of 10 representatives from cashewnut growing regions is said to have already left for Dodoma to attend the meeting.

“We don’t have bad intentions; all we want is to know whether or not the decision will hurt the sub-sector,” the Tafa chairman Faraji Njapuka told The Citizen. “We have already started to feel the pinch because prices of agricultural inputs have surged,” he said.

He cited the price of a bag of sulphur saying it has since increased two-fold to Sh60,000 from Sh30,000.

Debating the proposals in Parliament this week, Mr Zitto Kabwe (Kigoma Urban-ACT Wazalendo) said the proposed changes would transfer all export levy collections to the main Treasury fund, to be directed to other outlays , thereby not benefitting cashew growers.

“For two consecutive years, the government did not release a share of the export levy to CBT with which to support farmers with agricultural inputs,” he said, adding, “This is unacceptable.”

Mr Nape Nnauye (Mtama-CCM) vowed to oppose the proposed amendment, saying supporting it would amount to sabotaging cashew farmers. “I will oppose the changes to my last drop of blood, and also ensure that the Sh211 billion owed to cashew farmers is refunded in full,” he pledged.

Tandahimba District Council chairman Seleman Namkulya said if the proposed changes were approved, it would cause an outcry among farmers.