THE Cereals and other Produce Board (CPB) has purchased 35,000 tonnes of various crops from farmers this farming season
CPB Acting Director General John Maige revealed this while speaking to journalists at Nanenane agricultural exhibitions at John Mwakangale grounds in Mbeya.
He said the crops purchased by the board included maize, paddy, sunflower and beans, noting the CPB has planned to spend 100bn/- for buying crops from farmers and it has so far spent 29bn/-.
“We continue to buy cereals in our various centres in Iringa, Arusha, Dodoma, Sumbawanga, Songea and Tunduma,” Mr Maige said.
He said many people who visited their pavilion during the exhibitions had the opportunity to see various and buy various products which had already been processed and in high quality.
Mr noted that after the exhibitions, the CPB products will continue to be sold at its offices in Iringa, Mwanza, Arusha, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam.
He said the board focused on strengthening business through purchasing crops from farmers and processing them and selling the products within and outside the country.
“We produce high quality products because we observe the East African standards. We produce high quality maize flour by using modern technology, wheat flour and rice … since we observe standards our products are safe for consumers,” he said.
For his part, CPB Board Director Nicomed Bohay said that the board works to address the problem of market to farmers
“We purchase various crops from farmers, the aim is to address the challenge of the market to enable farmers to easily sell their crops thus encouraging them to boost productivity,” he said.
Mid-May this year, CPB said that major reforms await the cereal and produce sector, as it intends to allocate 100bn/- for purchasing crops from farmers.
CPB also encouraged farmers across the country to cultivate more crops in this season, to effectively utilise the opportunity in which the crops will be bought at market price.
