Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government targets to buy 298,000 tonnes of maize during this 2021/2022 financial year for export.
This was revealed by the Cereals and Other Produce Board of Tanzania (CPB) official, Dr Anselim Moshi, who said the board has signed contracts with World Food Programme (WFP) and Kenyan based Grain Industries Limited to supply a total of 164,000 tonnes of maize.
Dr Moshi told journalists in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday that under the contracts, a total of 114,000 tonnes of maize will be traded to Grain Industries Limited, while WFP will purchase the remaining 50,000 tonnes.
He further said that CPB was in the process of opening a warehouse in Nairobi in partnership with a Kenyan company — Kapari Limited to deliver about 102,000 tonnes of maize.
In addition, CPB continues to enter into contracts with companies in value chain addition of sunflower and white sorghum, and increase production capacity from the current 12,000 tonnes of sunflowers per year to 50,000 by 2024, thus reducing edible oil dependence on imports.
“CPB will continue to strengthen its businesses and become a reliable market for farmers’ produce through opening of more new markets both within and outside the country,” said Dr Moshi.
He said the CPB maize silos in Arusha, Iringa and Dodoma have the capacity of storing a total of 54,000 tonnes a year.
“This brings the actual demand for maize for the year 2021/2022 to 298,000 tonnes valued at 149bn/-,” he said.
Moshi also added that the board also plans to procure 60,000 tonnes of white sorghum for supply in the South Sudan market and 12,000 tonnes of sunflower for Kizota Dodoma factory On his part, National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) Chief Executive Officer, Milton Lupa said the government planned to buy 165,000 tonnes of maize at a high price to encourage farmers to increase their yield.
He said they expect to receive the first phase funding from the government by the end of July for procurement of the consignment. Lupa said the agency is currently able to store 291,000 tonnes of maize after completion of construction of the Babati warehouse in Manyara region with a storage capacity of 40,000 tonnes, and that by June next year, they will be able to store more than 500,000 tonnes after the completion of all warehouses being built in the country.
However, Minister for Agriculture, Prof Mkenda said the government is committed to improve the agriculture sector, which is why it is taking various initiatives of lowering fertilizer prices as well as other agricultural inputs.
He said the government has issued permits for traders to import and export fertilizer by removing the chain of approvals.
