Fortune to some 17,500 barley farmers beckons

A FORTUNE to barley farmers in the country is on horizon, where some 17,500 out growers will be engaged in contract farming to cultivate barley as raw material to feed the local company.

The Minister for Agriculture, Hussein Bashe on Wednesday launched Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) Malting Plant, which will be in operation as from March next year capable of producing 12000 metric tonnes of malt a year, the first of its kind in Africa

Speaking during the launch, Mr Bashe said the plant to be known as TBL Kilimanjaro Malt Plant will be in Moshi, where some 17,500 nationals will be engaged in contract farming to cultivate barley as raw material to feed the company.

Noting that the exercise to be supervised by the company and government, he further said it will be a blessing to barley farmers in the regions including Manyara, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya and Rukwa.

During the event that was attended by representatives from the ministries of Finance and Planning as well Investment, Industries and Trade, Mr Bashe said malt being processing locally will bring to an end imports of the product that is key in brewing companies.

Elaborating, the minister said in the first year, the company will be producing 12,000 tonnes of malt and thereafter after two years increase to 35,000 metric tonnes annually.

The Minister said plans are ahead to ensure that in the coming three years, the country will not be importing any more malt, but instead will be exporting to other countries.

He added: “In the contract farming apart from the employment opportunities we will ensure there is transparency and pricing so that both parties enjoy the economic benefit from the agreement.”

In a related development, Mr Bashe paid special gratitude to the Ministry of finance and Planning for its decision to put incentives on differential excise duty, especially on imported malt for local companies to compete.

“Let me urge you to finish up the deal with grape farming as we will set up infrastructure where, we will engage directly with farmers to purchase the juicy,” he pointed out.

On his part, the Deputy Minister for Investment, Industries and Trade, Mr Exaud Kigahe asked the company management to strive for quality standards that will attract international markets.

“You should not only produce for the local market but have excess for exports…as for farmers, produce raw materials with the required standards so that malt and local brews win accolades in the world market,” he pointed out.

He assured them of the government’s commitment, safeguard and creating a conducive business and investment environment, where the private sector will also contribute in the economic transformation of the country towards the industrialization drive.

In response, TBL Managing Director, Mr Jose Moran said the company is conducting a joint project for the construction and rehabilitation of a malting plant in Moshi, Kilimanjaro

He said the project will be implemented in phases, where the first for 2023/24 fiscal year will involve investing 10.5 million US dollars to produce the 12,000 metric tonnes of malt.

He noted that the phase will automatically boost local production and raise the morale of farmers to cultivate more, especially by building their capacity and seed variety testing as support from the company.

Phase two that will be implemented in the 2024/25 fiscal year will involve scaling up the project construction to produce 16,000 metric tonnes of malt with the investment of about 6.3million US dollar.

However, he said, the expansion of the local sourcing for all the commodities including sorghum and grapes will increase the supply of the raw materials locally in the country.

The malting plant, he said, that uses the RimoMalt technology combines the three steps namely steeping, germination and kilning in a single solution in the malt procession.