Tanzania's meat exports rise by 57% to reach Sh6.5 billion

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s meat exports rose by 57 percent in August 2022 due to a rise in demand of meat in foreign countries as authorities enhanced the marketing of such products outside.

Data from the Tanzania Meat Board shows that in August, the country’s meat exports reached $3.048 million.

This was a massive leap from exports worth $1.9 million in July, 2022.

Official data from the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development show that until May 2022, the total number of cattle in Tanzania at 35.3 million.

The country was also home to a total of 25.6 million goats during the same time.

Similarly, the sheep population in stood at 8.8 million until the end May 2022 while the number of local chicken stood at 92.8 million.

The registrar of Tanzania Meat Board, Dr Daniel Mushi, said goat meat accounts for the lion’s shares of the country’s meat exports, thanks to its good taste.

For instance, he said, out of the $3.048 million in meat exports in August, $2.1 million of it was goat meat.

The remaining amount is what the country earned by exporting beef, sheep, chicken, pigs and offals.

“Goat meat is soft and has a special taste that many people like and it is meat that you can prepare in different ways. Its taste is different from cows, goats, chicken and sheep,” said Dr Mushi.

He said it was also easy to prepare goat meat.

“You can easily prepare it even at family level….Besides, many people like to prepare it for religious ceremonies,” he said.

Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait are the major markets for meat from Tanzania. The five markets account for 51 percent, 17.26 percent, 11.74 percent, 8.2 and 6.597 percent respectively of Tanzania’s meat exports.

The remaining volume is exported to Zanzibar, Hong Kong, Comoros and Jordan.

According to Dr Mushi, the number of countries in search of meat from Tanzania has been on the rise due to an improvement in quality.

“In recent years, the meat market has been increasing because of the quality of the meat being exported…Previously, breeders could not observe the rules of breeding such as feed, water, treatment and prevention of diseases as well as keeping livestock in a clean condition,” he said.