TPDF soldiers in Mtwara for cashews operation

Newala District Commisioner Aziza Mangosongo receives a section of TPDF soldiers who arrived in Mtwara Region yesterday. The soldiers will supervise the operation of buying cashew nuts from farmers as directed by President John Magufuli.

photo | Bakari Kiango

What you need to know:

The Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) soldiers have started arriving in Mtwara region to supervise President John Magufuli’s directives to buy cashews and transport them to warehouses in Mtwara and Dar es Salaam.

Newala. The first batch of the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) soldiers has arrived in Newala District, Mtwara Region ahead of the operation of buying cashews from farmers as directed by President John Magufuli.

Approximately 20 TPDF soldiers arrived in the district yesterday and were received by Newala District Commissioner Aziza Mangosongo.

They were immediately taken to three warehouses used for storing cashews including the Micronix, Agrofocus and Tandahimba Newala Cooperative Union (Tanecu).

They were also taken to the borders in efforts to prevent cashews from being smuggled from neighbouring Mozambique.

“They will be responsible for verification of cashews stored in warehouses, supervising payments made to farmers and organise logistics for moving the merchandise to warehouses and the factory,” the Newala District Administrative Secretary (DAS) Daniel Zenda told journalists yesterday. Meanwhile, the acting regional registrar for cooperative unions in Mtwara, Mr Salum Issa, said farmers would start receiving payments any time from today (Friday) after completion of the verification process. Speaking in Mtwara, Mr Issa said verification was being done to avoid losses that could be occasioned by dishonest farmers.

“We monitor records available at the cooperative unions; at the main warehouses and compare them with those maintained by farmers before making payment,” he said.

Tanecu marketing officer Juma Selemani said they were finalizing the verification and that farmers would receive payments anytime from now.

“We will pay them directly, instead of passing them to Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Societies in order to avoid further delay of payments,” he said.

Some owners of cashews processing plants have pleaded with the government to sell them the amounts of raw cashews they need to keep their plants running, a move that would also protect the businesses and hence jobs.

Hawte Investment Limited manager Sadat Abdul said his company has employed 600 Tanzanians, but it faces a threat to halt production due to shortage of cashews.

“We didn’t boycott purchasing the produce. We have been organising ourselves including securing loans from financial institutions. This is what we did even in the 2017 season when cashews were bought in December in spite of the fact that the season commenced in October,” he said.

“We therefore request the government to sell some cashews to us.”