AfricaPress-Tanzania: The Ministry of Agriculture is determined to end the sugarcane business monopoly in order to create a competitive market.
Addressing the staff and citizens of Mvomero district early on Tuesday, the Minister of Agriculture Prof Adolf Mkenda said that lack of multiple buyers of sugarcane denies farmers competitive price advantages.
“Sometimes the buyers disappoint our farmers…If they don’t want to buy your sugarcane, they just say your sugarcanes don’t have enough sucrose (amount of sugar), so they will reject your product or pay you little,” he said.
Prof Mkenda revealed that there is an existing sugar shortage of 40,000 tonnes in the country, failure of local industries to process at least 350,000 tonnes of sugarcane from outgrowers.
