Tanzania's coconut industry at risk

Dar es Salaam. A retarded supply of coconuts, fuelled by the falling number of coconut palms in major producing areas, is sending prices of the produce up across Tanzania, analysts say.

Coconuts are valued for their oil, which is said to have numerous health advantages, such as antibacterial and antioxidant characteristics that improve skin and mouth health and may help with weight loss.

However, with major growing areas in the coastal regions of Dar es Salaam, Coast, Mtwara, Lindi, Tanga and Zanzibar being turned into season crop farms and residential zones, coconut production does not receive the level of interest that it used to about a decade ago. Climate change and the rise in consumer demand for premature coconuts, commonly known as madafu, have seen production go down in recent years.

“Basically 90 percent of the coconut trees on which we currently depend have been there for a long time... Besides, the plants we have are not drought-tolerant, and as you know, climate change is a serious problem,” said the chairman of the Mafia District Council, Mr Juma Ally.

As a result, a coconut now fetches between Sh700 and Sh800 in the Mafia. One year ago, he said, the product fetched between Sh400 and Sh300 depending on size.

“Currently, a farmer harvests five to seven coconuts per tree per season, while in previous seasons he could often harvest 25 to 30 per tree,” he said.

Most coconut varieties grown in Mafia are not drought-resistant, which has put farmers in a precarious situation. They have to grapple with low harvests due to the island’s decreased rainfall levels.

Mr Ally says Mafia District is now home to three coconut processing companies, with each having a daily production capacity of 3,000 coconuts.

“Traders from Zanzibar have also started purchasing the product in bigger amounts as compared to previous years. Given this trend, consumers shouldn’t anticipate a drop in coconut prices any time soon, particularly as the holy month of Ramadan approaches,” he said.

According to Mr Ally, it is in the best interests of both individual farmers and the country as a whole to phase out the current coconut varieties and introduce drought-resistant ones.

“Research institutions should conduct thorough research that will result in the development of new varieties, as other nations like Malaysia and Indonesia did,” Mr Ally suggested.

The Mafia situation is the same as that in Zanzibar, where a survey at the Unguja Commodities Market shows that the product’s price has increased to between Sh1,500 and Sh2,000, depending on size.

Mr Shamata Shaame Khamis, Zanzibar’s Agriculture minister for the Islands, blamed the shortfall on the premature harvest of the fruit as well as the felling of coconut trees for the wood used to make furniture.

“Furniture made with palm wood is regarded as better, more comfortable, and more stylish. Therefore, the increase in hotel construction has escalated demand for furniture, hence increasing the felling of palms,” he told KTV TZ Online last year.

Furthermore, according to Mr Khamis, the majority of coconut owners and growers in Unguja have been harvesting unripe produce to cater for the expanding market in major cities and towns.

However, he blamed citizens for the slow pace of replacing the trees by planting new ones.

According to him, the 2013/14 tree census in the Isles shows that the number of coconut trees has declined from 5.7 million in the 1990s to 3.4 million.

The Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (Tari) manager at the Mikocheni Centre, Mr Fredy Tairo said the country has improved native coconut varieties that are moderately resistant to diseases and produce high yields in the presence of enough rainfall.

“The sole drawback is that the climate change continues to have an impact the yield of the improved varieties because they are not drought resistant,” he said.

“We are challenged to carry out research to come up with new varieties that will withstand extended periods of drought,” he added.

Furthermore, he said that currently, Tari is improving the native coconut varieties to deter the decline in production.

Mr Tairo suggested that the native varieties should be subjected to irrigation programmes in order to boost their yields.

“The increase in demand for coconut in recent years has collided with an upsurge in the consumption of coconut drink, which has made the situation worse,” he said. However, a survey conducted by The Citizen found that in the city of Dar es Salaam, coconuts are traded for as much as Sh2500 and Sh3000, respectively, depending on their size.

Traders at Mabibo Market said the supply of coconuts started declining last year.

A resident of Ubungo, Ms Zaina Mgendi, said she was surprised to find a coconut being sold at Sh1,500 instead of the average Sh800 to Sh1,000 traded a few months ago. “I have chosen to switch to using groundnuts because they are somewhat more affordable,” she said.

A trader at a market in Mbezi Beach, Mr Emmanuel Ngunge, said coconut prices have reached Sh2,500 to Sh3,000 per coconut.

“I’m thinking about closing the business because there aren’t as many customers as there used to be,” he said.

A reliable source at the Kariakoo Market said production has severely declined on Mafia Island, which accounts for about 90 percent of all the coconut traded at the market.

High coconut prices at the Kariakoo Market, traders say, have been caused by a sharp fall in coconut harvests from Mafia Island, which provides around 90 percent of all the coconut traded at the market.