MTWARA: THE National Bank of Commerce (NBC) recently concluded the third season of its ‘Wekeza NBC Shambani Ushinde’ campaign, which targeted cashew farmers in the Mtwara and Lindi regions.
The bank awarded the grand prize of a tractor to Lindi Mwambao Cooperative Union, the campaign’s top winner.
The campaign launched in Mtwara last October aimed to boost cashew nut and crop production in the regions by offering various prizes to winners, including smartphones, sprayers, TVs, motorcycles, laptops, digital scales and tractors.
The prize handover ceremony took place over the weekend at the offices of the Lindi Mwambao Cooperative Union in Lindi, in conjunction with the seventh general meeting of the society.
Lindi Assistant Regional Secretary, Majid Myao led the ceremony, which was attended by leaders and members of the society while NBC’s Lindi Branch Manager, Iovin Mapunda, led other bank officials.
Mr Myao said that the prizes arrived at an opportune time, as the region is implementing a strategy to increase cashew nut production to align with the government’s goal of reaching 700,000 tonnes in two years.
“The government’s plan is to see the agricultural sector grow by 10 per cent by 2030, so any initiative towards achieving the goal is welcomed,” said Mr Myao.
Mr Mapunda revealed that since the campaign’s launch, a total of 150 winners, including individual farmers and Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS) from Lindi and Mtwara had received prizes worth 200m/-.
“As we expect to launch the fourth season of this campaign at the end of this week, I continue to urge farmers to continue channeling their cashew payment funds through their ‘NBC Shambani’ accounts to enjoy more benefits from the account,” he said.
Lindi’s Mwambao Cooperative Union Manager, Nurdin Swala said the campaign was a great help to them as they ended up with a tractor prize.
