The government of Tanzania through the Ministry of Agriculture has laid out strategies to enable cashew farmers and players in the industry to realise 400,000 tonnes production target in the 2023/24 season.
Among the strategies includes the early distribution of inputs to ensure all farmers comply with the planting and spraying calendar leaving no room for poor yields due to insufficient input applications.
In his 2023/24 ministerial budget, Hussein Bashe, the country’s Agriculture Minister said 182,270.05 tonnes were produced last season was less than 240,158 tonnes and 210,786 tonnes recorded in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, respectively.
“To realise our target, the Cashewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT) would be empowered to procure and distribute 49,000 tonnes of powder sulphur and 3.130 million litres of pesticide,” said Bashe.
CBT director general Francis Alfred said 8,000 tonnes of powder sulphur, one million litres of pesticides, and 5,000 motorised sprayers already arrived for the exercise.
“With this early availability of inputs to farmers, 2023/24 season will be first of its kind,” said Alfred.
Training of farmers
Another key strategy employed by the East African nation to improve cashew yields is training of its growers on agronomical and other best practices on the crop production.
“In collaboration with the Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (Tari), about 103,000 farmers and 2,425 extension officers from cashew growing regions will be trained on better farming practices,” said Bashe.
Jahida Hassan Ruangwa, Nachingwea and Liwale Cooperative Union (Runali) manager commended the move saying the early inputs distribution accompanied with strong extension services will help farmers achieve the yield targets.
“Our growers need to know how to accurately apply farm inputs on their field because early access and distribution of inputs alone will be meaningless if they (farmers) remain ignorant of better farming practices,” said Hassan.
Encouraging farmers
According to the sector players, the government cannot achieve the set target alone. Farmers should be encouraged to give support to the effort made by the state departments.
Nurdin Swallah, Lindi Mwambao Cooperative Union (LMCU) manager says the government cannot provide subsidised inputs that will meet all farmers’ demands, observing that growers should be ready to complement the deficit.
“If the government provides 80 percent of subsidized inputs, farmers should be ready to procure the remaining 20 percent to meet the total requirement,” he said.
In this, the government targets to increase the production of raw cashews from 10 kilogrammes to 35 kilogrammes per tree.
Worldwide, cashew production has increased from an average of 1.4 million tonnes in 2010 to 4.1 million tonnes in 2021. Africa contributes 56 per cent of all cashews produced in the world, according to CBT.
About 90 per cent of the raw cashews produced in the world are extracted in India and Vietnam.
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