Recently, Deputy Minister for Agriculture Anthony Mavunde attended an event at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) dispatching a consignment of 200 kgs of avocados from Tanzania to India. The deputy minister assured the attendees of the government’s commitment to continue supporting avocado farmers and provide all the needed support for their produce to secure markets abroad.
Some 20 tons of Tanzania avocados are expected to be exported to India by the end of January, as part of the government’s deliberations on looking for international markets for domestically grown crops. According to Mavunde, Tanzania has an annual capacity to produce 40,000 tons of avocados, however; the export has been recorded at only 9,000 tons, noting that plans are on cards to increase productivity.
“In the next financial year, the Ministry of Agriculture will establish a common user facility in one of the southern highland regions that will be responsible for collecting, sorting, grading and packaging all the avocados for the sake of maintaining the quality of the produce before export,” he explained.
Source: africa-press.net