MTWARA: SMALL scale cashew farmers in Lindi and Mtwara regions are optimistic about increasing earnings on cashew crop this year, following improved quality and yields harvested in this 2024/2025 season.
Speaking during cashew auctions conducted in Tandahimba and Lindi districts, the farmers said they have experienced increased crop production this season compared to previous years.
‘Production is very high this season compared to the past seasons and this assures me of increased income,” said Kevin Julius, a smallholder farmer in Tandahimba District, Mtwara Region.
According to the farmer, the improved production is attributed to early distribution of subsidised agricultural inputs that enabled farmers especially smallholders to start cashew farming early in the season.
The subsidised agricultural inputs reached us on time, enabling smallholders to comply with the spraying calendar, which ensured better conditions for higher yields,” said Mohammed Mohammed, a farmer from Lindi District.
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The farmers acknowledged government support in distributing subsidised farm inputs on time, training farmers and extension officers on best farming practices, saying the plan greatly enabled smallholders to prepare their farms as recommended.
According to Cashew nuts Board of Tanzania (CBT), the government provided agricultural inputs whose value doubled to 188.99bn/- in 2023/2024 farming season, from 96.26bn/- provided in 2022/2023 season.
CBT Director General, Mr Alfred Francis said the subsidised inputs were distributed ahead of the farming season, enabling farmers especially smallholders to comply with farming calendar.
Speaking ahead of the launch of raw cashew nut trading season 2024/2025, CBT Director of Marketing and Quality Control, Mr Revelian Ngaiza said production of raw cashews is projected to increase to 595,000 tonnes in 2024/2025 season, up from 310,787 tonnes produced in 2023/2024.
Meanwhile, CBT has stressed the need for cashew growers and other players in the cashew value chain to ensure consistent access to high quality raw cashew for better prices in the market.
He tasked managers of Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS) in cashew-based regions to strictly supervise and ensure raw cashew nuts collected in the warehouses are of high quality.
Mr Francis said the quality of the raw cashew nuts highly determines the prices offered in the local and international markets.
He mentioned the main factors for raw cashew nuts quality as moisture content, stressing the need for farmers to ensure the raw cashews are well dried before being collected to warehouses. Other factors are kernel out turn ratio (KOR) and Nut Count.
Best raw cashew nuts are usually between 160 and 180 and KOR is between 51 and 55, which meets the recommended export standard.
Tanzania is known to produce premium quality cashew nuts that enable farmers to fetch higher prices in the world markets compared to cashew nuts from other countries.