Cashewnut farmers due to gain when new receipt system ready

Cashewnut farmers due to gain when new receipt system ready


Cashew Nut farmers stand to benefit after a new receipt system for the 2007/08 harvesting season has been initiated by the government.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Stephen Wassira, said in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday, that the new system will reduce the problem to the farmers who were not paid their money and will improve the price to 610/-.

`The ministry has decided to have a receipt system because the farmers were denied payment due to the disorganised system used by the government earlier,` he said.

Wassira said that the farmers will take their cashew nuts to a godown that has been registered by the government and each of them would be given a receipt to show the total amount of the cashew nuts they have sold to cooperative unions.

`The farmers will be paid 60 per cent of their money, and when the trade union is through with the selling, they will be provided with the 40 per cent balance,` he said.

He said that the traders will buy cashew nuts from the godown where special trade representatives will negotiate the price in the presence of primary and secondary trade union representatives.

Wassira said that if the cashew nuts are sold at more than 610/- then the farmers will get more money, over and above 40 per cent.

He said that in other regions, farmers will be paid all their money taken from the banks by the trade union.

Last week private trading companies in Mtwara Region allegedly bought cashew nuts at 350/- per kilogramme, contrary to President Kikwete�s directive requiring them to purchase a kilogramme at 610/.

Speaking to The Guardian, farmers in Mtwara Region said that the President had instructed traders to buy cashew nuts at 610/- and not 350/-.

A cashew nut farmer, Ali Hassan, said that private traders were contributing to underdevelopment of framers, making them poorer.

`The President came to Mtwara Region on a tour and said traders should pay 610/- per kg. However, the traders are paying us 350/- and sometimes 150/- per Kg,` lamented Hassan.

Hassan explained that farmers depended on cashew nuts for their survival as it is their sole commercial crop.

`The little we get to sell a prominent trader wants to buy it at a low price of which does not provide farmers with any profit`

Another farmer, Mohamed Abdul, explained that most traders claimed that the cashew nuts were of poor quality and ended up setting a low price.

He cited lack of assurance for the market as a major contributing factor to poor performance by farmers.

`If we are sure that a farmer will sell all the cashew nuts at a good price, we could eradicate poverty. What we earn is not enough to even cater for our families and take our children to school` he noted.

He explained that Mtwara and Lindi cooperative unions were to blame for their failure to ensure the farmers got what they deserved.

Abdul said that there were times when farmers took cashew nuts to cooperative unions to fetch a good price but to no avail.

The chairperson for Mtwara and Lindi Cooperatives Union Fikiri Mohamed explained that cooperative unions were not doing well due to poor management.

He said that the management was building good relations with foreign traders to ensure the farmers have a better market.

Abdul said that the problem of poor management had been resolved because the Cooperative Union suspended the managing director who will soon appear before the court of law over charges of stealing 250m/-

According to a research conducted by Concern in collaboration with Tanzania Agricultural Development Research Group (Tadreg), farmers have been denied of their rights for lack of support from authorities.

The report says that both seeds and seedlings were available at the district-based cashew nut development centers and from individual farmers who run their own nurseries.

Seeds sell at 800/-per kilogram while seedlings are available at 500/-, a piece but farmers pay 250/- and CBT pays the remaining 250/-.

The workshop was funded by District Economic and Social Empowerment Project (DESEMP) and organized by United Peasants of Tanzania (UPT).