At Tanzania Mainland’s independence in December 1961, the country was the world’s biggest grower of sisal, which was also its main export crop. Sisal fibre production stood then at 200,000 tonnes a year.

The cultivation and processing of sisal then employed over a million people, most of them labourers from Kigoma and neighbouring countries of Rwanda and Burundi.

Beautiful sisal estates could be seen on both sides of the railway line and roads. Sisal was mainly grown in Tanga and Eastern Province, which comprised the present Morogoro, Coast and Dar es Salaam regions.

This is rarely the case nowadays and sisal has been pushed virtually to extinction by synthetic fibres. This started in 1967 when sisal estates were nationalised, leading to severe disruption of efficiency and output. In less than 15 years, polypropylene textiles and twine claimed more than half of the sisal market, dealing a heavy blow to production in Tanzania, China and Mexico. By 1998, Tanzania's sisal output had shrunk to 19,000 tonnes, less than 10 per cent of its peak in 1964, and Brazil became the world's leading sisal supplier.

But hope is now round the corner with the news that the Tanzania Sisal Board (TSB) is carrying out a study to reduce dependence on the overseas markets. The study will establish how Tanzania can withstand fluctuations of prices in international markets.

The board says the study, to be carried out under the Sisal Development Plan (2011- 2020), will give direction on how to develop institutions to rationalise the internal market. It is the right way to go.  Focusing on the local market will boost efforts to reintroduce the crop in areas where it was abandoned. Since there was no demand locally, there was no way Tanzania could sell the crop in amounts large enough to make it a viable business.

The same situation applies to other export crops like cotton and cashewnuts as well as hides and skins. It is time Tanzania looked inwards and added value to all its export products by setting up factories to process them.

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