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Africa Region Working Paper Series No. 70 Tanzania’s
Cashew Sector: Abstract Cashews are an important export for Tanzania and an important source of income for small farmers in the southern coastal region. The sector has made a remarkable recovery since the near collapse of the 1980s. The recovery is credited to the economic reforms begun in 1986, especially trade liberalization and exchange rate adjustments, and to the sector reforms begun in the mid-1990s, that eliminated the monopoly of the Cashew Nut Marketing Board. The recovery was also aided by decision to export raw nuts rather than process them locally which meant that farmers were paid more quickly and they could afford to apply sulfur dust to control powdery mildew which increased yields. However, the industry is not likely to expand further, or even maintain current production levels, unless problems are addressed.The problems include defining a more constructive role for the Cashew Board, reversing the decline in export crop quality, assisting farmers with financing input costs, and reducing high taxes on exports. Beyond correcting these immediate problems, there is an opportunity for the industry to expand in several directions. Replanting with improved varieties would reduce costs and make Tanzania a more competitive exporter. Developing a competitive private sector processing industry would create jobs and reduce dependence on India as the market for raw nuts. These growth opportunities are unlikely to happen without public sector support, but the challenge is to define the public-private partnership that will provide the needed changes to allow the private sector to grow. Full text of paper (607KB, In Adobe Acrobat format. Requires Acrobat PDF viewer) |
