PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has directed the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that it clears payments to the remaining cashew nut farmers who sold their produce in the 2018/2019 season.
He said that so far, more than 96 per cent of cashew farmers who sold the cash crop in the last season have been verified and paid.
The PM said that the ministry should ensure that the remaining 3 per cent of cashew nut farmers are verified and paid their money.
Mr Majaliwa issued the directives on Friday in his meeting with cashew farmers from Ruangwa, Masasi and Tandahimba.
After listening to various concerns raised by farmers, Mr Majaliwa urged them to continue being patient as the government was striving to clear their dues.
“The fifth phase government under the leadership of President John Magufuli is very cautious and therefore no-one will be denied payments,” he said.
In another development, the premier has called upon members of cooperative societies to report to the government whenever they saw that things were not going well.
He directed regional and district commissioners to hold accountable cooperative leaders who would fail to execute their duties as required.
For their part, the farmers expressed gratitude to the government for listening to their concerns and finding solutions.
One of the farmers, Mariam Mganda, saluted Mr Majaliwa for his readiness to listen to them because he had given them hope of being paid their money.
In September last year, the government assured cashew nut farmers that their payments would be cleared before the onset of the new season.
The Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Mr Omary Mgumba, allayed farmers’ fears over unpaid cashew nut deliveries, saying their payments would be cleared before the beginning of the next season.
“The government pledge to buy all cashewnut is still on and be assured that before the start of the season, all pending payments will be paid,” said Mr Mgumba.
In October 2018, President John Magufuli ordered procurement of all the cash crop directly from farmers at 3,300/- per kilogramme by the government through the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB).
The decision came after the crop dealers failed to work on the presidential directive to buy the crop at a minimum 3,000/- per kilo against 1,550/- the Cashewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT) recommended.
President Magufuli stressed that the good prices would improve the welfare of farmers and enable them to buy farm inputs and boost productivity.
