UN avails 420m/- for Tanzania’s cassava processing plant

FJS is a US-based foundation that promotes creative projects to generate sustainable employment in Tanzania.

The funds will be used as working capital and for new machinery aimed at raising cassava-flour production to sustain food security, create jobs, steady farmers’ revenue and improve their livelihoods.

According to FJS, one of the main obstacles cassava farmers are faced with is selling their crops to generate steady revenue since they are capable of improving their own productivity and raise the crop’s output, but face challenges of finding markets to sell the product due to poor road infrastructure from the harvesting areas.

Therefore, attractive markets such as Dar es Salaam where 250 tonnes of cassava are sold daily cannot be a target market for cassava farmers since the long trajectory from Bungu Village is costly due to poor roads infrastructure and the lack of refrigeration, making it difficult to transport fresh food.

The UNCDF head of country, Peter Malika, explained that with the new investment, the cassava starch and flour plant will be able to produce approximately one tonne of cassava flour a day that are meant to cover local and international demand.

“The factory aims at empowering local cassava farmers whom, thanks to the cassava flour, will be able to access more profitable markets for their products,” Malika added.

According to FJS, cassava farmers are only able to distribute their crops within a 30 miles radius area due to absence of refrigeration. However, with cassava flour they will be able to deliver their products beyond Tanzania.

Cassava produce is a USD2.86 bn industry which accounts for 2.1 per cent in African and exports to the global market.
Tanzania ranks 8th in Africa in cassava production worth USD 369,000 which is equivalent to 0.63 per cent of the total exported produce from Africa with Ghana topping the list by exporting a total of USD 33.9 million worth of the crop, which is equivalent to 58 per cent.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), cassava consumption demand growth is estimated at an average of 3.4 per cent.

The crop is cultivated in many regions of Tanzania such as Mwanza, Mtwara, Lindi, Shinyanga, Tanga, Ruvuma, Mara, Kigoma, and Coast.

Tanzania is the largest country in East Africa, covering an area of 940,000 km2, 60,000 of which is inland water.

In coast region, cassava is one of the main food crops. It is estimated that the annual production of fresh cassava is seven million metric tonnes.

In sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia cassava is staple food and is eaten by over seven hundred million people. Cassava flour can also be used to make biscuits, cake, bread and other products. Cassava has potential for industrial use in production of starch and bio fuel.

The leaves are also used for food in many communities in Africa, including Tanzania. The crop is an important subsistence food, especially in the semi-arid areas and is sometimes considered as a famine reserve when cereals fail, due to its drought tolerance.

Eighty-four per cent of the total production in the country is utilised as human food, the remaining percentages are for other uses like starch making, livestock feed and export. Both roots and leaves of cassava are of major nutritional importance.

The estimated annual growth of cassava consumption demand for the period from 1980 to 2000 is 3.4 per cent which is similar to the estimate for maize. Cassava is cultivated and produced in all regions of Tanzania.

The main producing areas are: Mwanza, Mtwara, Lindi, Shinyanga, Tanga Ruvuma, Mara Kigoma, coast regions and most regions in Zanzibar.

Tanzania is the fourth producer of cassava in Africa with annual fresh roots production of about 5,000,000 tonnes.Cassava productivity in Tanzania is only 8 t/ha while the average sweet potato yield has been reported to be 4.5 tons per hectare.

These cassava and sweet potato productivities are well below their potential yield (e.g. at least 20t/ha and 10t/ha for cassava and sweet potato, respectively).

Low yields arise because majority of farmers use local varieties with low genetic potential and their susceptibility to major diseases and insect pests namely Cassava green mites (CGM), Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD), Cassava Brown Steak Disease (CBSD) and sweet potato virus diseases (SPVD).

For years, farmers have also been facing the challenge of technology hitch in processing cassava into flour. Asha Lidume, a farmer at Nanyamba area in Mtwara Rural District says despite using the hoe, farmers also don't know what to do in order to improve their yields.

Many families produce cassava but after the harvest they have nowhere to preserve for future uses.

In this case many cassava produce are wasted as rubbish because of poor technology to preserve them. Generally there was a big challenge to boost cassava productivity and utilisation in Tanzania.

In 2012, the government, through the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) funded a four year project titled Improving Cassava Productivity and Utilisation in Tanzania.

Naliendele Agricultural Research Institute was a grantee in that project and it collaborated with Agriculture Research Institutes of Maruku, Ilonga and Ukiriguru.