Warehouse Receipt Regulatory Board (WRRB) acting managing director Asangye Bangu speaks during an exclusive interview with The Citizen in Dar es Salaam recently. PHOTO | MICHAEL MATEMANGA
Warehouse Receipt Regulatory Board is reforming its technology to tackle such as creation of artificial scarcity of produce
Dar es Salaam. Ongoing Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) digitalisation efforts are expected strengthen the cash crop selling scheme and address challenges that have affected the country.
The Warehouse Receipt Regulatory Board (WRRB) is reforming its technology to tackle such as creation of artificial scarcity of produce by unscrupulous traders and traders who include non-commodities such as stones in packaging, hence tarnishing Tanzania’s image in the global arena.
WRRB acting managing director Asangye Bangu made the revelations recently during an exclusive interview with The Citizen.
He said WRRB is collaborating with the e-Government Authority to fully digitalise the warehouses using part of Sh342 million provided by the government.
Mr Bangu said Sh160 million of the total funds has been set aside for digitalisation and that Sh100 million would be spent on procuring Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment.
According to him, the remaining amount will be used for improving supportive infrastructure such as buildings for equipment installation.
He noted that currently, the board was finalizing the process to fix cameras in three chosen pilot warehouses located in Ruangwa District in Lindi Region as well as others Nanyamba and Tandahimba districts in Mtwara Region.
The two regions have been chosen due to their experience in cashews trading, according to him.
“After the standard of the three warehouses have been improved, the quality will be replicated to other warehouses across the country,” he said.
The WRRB chief said digitalisation will involve installation of the conveyor belts weighing machines consisting a measurement scale and have the ability of providing important information in real time.
The information include the Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (Amcos) and farmers who belong to received consignment, weight of the bulk, moisture levels, position of storage in warehouse etc.
“Once the three pilot warehouses have attained the intended standards, the same will be replicated to all WRRB warehouses, those owned by the private sector and individuals as well as cooperative societies,” he said.
He said upon conclusion of legal procedures, the Board will be responsible for coordinating operations of different warehouses, noting that digitalisation and strong cooperation with stakeholders, different challenges would be addressed.
Mr Bangu said the Board will upgrade its database of warehouses having different storage capacities located at different parts of the country and products stored in it.
“This will make WRRB the reliable source of information to government institutions cooperating with it and that it can easily trace and confirm whether shortages of certain products such as soda, sugar, cement etc reported by manufacturers are genuine or not,” he said.
He added, “This could be done by comparing the amount produced, received in warehouses and what has been sent to the markets.”
Mr Bangu said digitalisation will also enable WRRB to identify owners of adulterated poor quality produce that had been dispatched to buyers that could either be the Amcos and individual farmers.
“When we receive the barcode of the cargo/sacks with problems, owners can easily be detected by the system once it is taken to the system for cross-checking. This is because all these information were taken when the products was received in warehouses and was confirmed during the dispatch,” he said.
He said the fully developed database was an opportunity for the warehouse stakeholders and investors to cease investment opportunities in different parts of the country.
WRRB digitalisation history
Mr Bangu said when he joined the WRRB in 2017, he found that it had rolled out ICT system that however needed to be upgraded in order to efficiently manage its operations.
He said with support from TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) the system was upgraded and operated efficiently until 2021 when the government through the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade intervened.
According to him, the government provided Sh342 million for major ICT systems improvements in order to make it friendlier and improve data storage capacity.
“Improvements also aimed at enabling instant transfer of information to stakeholders. Currently, the board can instantly get information of the amount of crops received in different warehouses in Liwale, Ruvuma, Lindi, Namtumbo, Ruangwa, Lake Zone, etc,” he said.
Mr Bangu said the system has been made interactive therefore enabling different stakeholders to share information instead of writing manually as was the case in the past and that it simplifies coordination of activities taking place in all warehouses.
According to him, the WRRB systems has been connected with those of other institutions such as banks, the Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission (TCDC) etc.
“The system has enabled WRRB to issue electronic receipts instead of manually written receipts provided before,” he said.
Way forward
He said achievements recorded would be replicated to other warehouses in order to enable the board to accurate information related to types of cargo received in warehouses, cargo ownership, quantity and its movements.
“We are also planning to install Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) in warehouses in order to enable us to monitor what goes on inside and outside warehouses for 24 hours,” he said.
Mr Bangu said the first installed technology was developed by Tanzanians, noting that the trust to local firms will continue even to conveyor belt weighing machines.
Long term plans
He said come 2025, the Board is expected to finalise integration and digital upgrade to all 4,000 to 5,000 warehouses run by the government, cooperative unions and private players.
“We will acquire the coordination roles during that time. Therefore, each warehouse will be required to have WRS or the other system owned by the Board,” he said, adding.
“WRRB will be able to know products stored in the warehouses be it foodstuffs, iron bars, iron, cement etc. Recently, the country fell short of beverages (soda), the shortage could be confirmed if the system was fully operating.”
He said WRRB will be an institution that provide reliable information to other organisations through coordination of warehouses such as those preserving drugs in the country.
Mr Bangu said despite its failures to provide expiry status of preserved drugs, WRRB could recognize location, capacity and the amount of drugs preserved in the warehouse.
“The drugs authority is the one that can develop means of knowing the types of drugs, expiry status and several others,” he said.
WRS benefits
Outlining the benefit of the WRS system, Mr Bangu said in 2020, some farmers in Shinyanga Region were convinced to trade green grams through WRS and managed to earn 10 times more the normal prices.
This means that despite the waiting time, the WRS assures farmers and buyers of better prices and good quality of the merchandise.
“Following complaints of delayed payment, WRRB has introduced the primary markets that allow buyers to procure products from farmers and sell them at the secondary markets that provide high prices,” he said.
Mr Bangu added: “The move enable farmers to address financial challenges they face ahead the commencement of the secondary market”
But, Mr Bangu said the moment farmers will be aware that middlemen were the ones benefiting that would be the end of business as they will no longer agree to sell their produce at the primary markets.
He said a similar move was taken by cocoa farmers in Mvomero, Morogoro Region who have now abandoned middlemen who procured the crop at Sh2,500 per kilo and traded it in Mbeya at Sh4,900 per kilogramme.
“They are now selling their produce through the WRS and prices have increased to Sh4,900,” he said.
