Tanzania President, John Magufuli, has ordered a 94 percent increase to cashew nut prices at the industry regulator’s auctions and fired the organisation’s head in moves he said are aimed at safeguarding farmers from unsustainable low prices. Cashews are the most valuable of the East African nation’s export crops, but falling prices have prompted Tanzanian farmers to halt sales, saying operational costs were higher than what was offered for the produce.
Magufuli said late on Sunday that the minimum price will beset at 3,000 shillings ($1.31) per kilogram, up from the cashew nut Board of Tanzania’s previous minimum price of 1,550 shillings per kg. There will be no cashew nuts bought below 3,000 shillings. I just want the price to go up,” President Magufuli said in a televised meeting with buyers. ”
“If you don’t want to buy at 3,000 shillings, let me know today so that we can even use our army from tomorrow to buy it.” Magufuli also said that the industry board’s acting director-general, Wakuru Magigi, has been removed from his post over the price levels set by the board.
Calls to request comment from Magigi were unanswered. In recent board auctions, buyers offered between 1,900 shillings and 2,717 shillings per kg, down from an average of 3,600 shillings last season, which ran between October and September. cashew nut exports rose to $541.77 million in 2017 from$270.6 million in 2016, surpassing all of Tanzania’s cash crops,including coffee and tobacco, data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows.
Data from the bureau showed that cashew nut exports reached 331,100 tonnes in 2017, against 169,200 tonnes in 2016. Magufuli said the government was ready to buy farmers’ cashew nuts if there are no private buyers at the new prices but also told buyers that it is up to them “to buy cashew nuts at prices that you know are reasonable”.
The president said this year’s crop is forecast to reach 220,000 tonnes. A statement from presidential spokesman Gerson Msigwa on Sunday said that buyers at the meeting accepted the price set by Magufuli but had asked the government to remove some charges levied on cashew nut production.
Mohammed Nassoro, manager of the Tandahimba and Newala Cooperatives Union, one of the largest farmer groups in southern Tanzania, said farmers welcomed the new price.
