MP wants State to buy ‘piled up’ cashew nuts

Dar es Salaam. The cashew nuts saga took a new twist yesterday, with Nachingwea MP Hassan Masala appealing to the government to buy harvests piling up in cooperative warehouses.

Buyers have been reluctant to buy the cashew nuts after President John Magufuli directed that farmers be paid a minimum of Sh3,000 for every kilogramme, up from the Sh1,550 initially recommended by the Cashewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT).

Cashew nuts are Tanzania’s most valuable export crop, but falling prices have prompted farmers to refuse to sell their harvests this season, saying production costs were much higher that what they were being offered at auctions.

President Magufuli last week increased the minimum price to Sh3,000.

In his open letter to the President on Monday, Mr Masala said of the 34,844 tonnes of cashew nuts that had been collected and stored in cooperative warehouses, only 2,591 tonnes had so far been sold at the price recommended by the government.

“Cashew nut buyers have effectively gone on strike. It is time the government intervened and bought the crop from growers as a matter or urgency,” the CCM lawmaker said in the letter which was also copied to the Ministry of Agriculture.

He further appealed to the government to direct CBT to reduce levy from Sh10 to Sh5 per kilogramme so as to ease the burden on traders and growers.

Mr Masala also put forward several other proposals, including reducing prices of sacks; reducing export levy and other taxes as well as establishing new factories and reviving old ones so as to boost the cashew nut trade in the country.

He said if no action is taken to address the situation, cashew nut growers will default on their loans, making it virtually impossible to repay them.

Meanwhile, farmers remained optimistic that they will finally sell their harvests, banking their hopes on pending auctions.

Masasi-Mtwara Cooperative Union (Mamcu) manager Potacy Rwuza said although out of 28,000 tonnes harvested only 2,000 had been sold, he was optimistic that a significant amount would be bought in Friday’s auction.

Similar sentiments were echoed by representatives of the Tandahimba Newala Cooperative Union (Tanecu).

Ruvuma Regional Commissioner Christina Mndeme told The Citizen that auctions would start in the region on Thursday, adding that she hoped farmers would be able to sell their harvests at the recommended minimum price.

Mtwara Regional Commissioner Gelasius Byakanwa said it was too early to say what would happen next.

Some buyers said they were finding it difficult to buy cashew nits at the indicative price, saying it was too high for them.