Tanzania’s vice-president Dr Philip Mpango has called on African countries to boost local consumption of cashew nuts and their by-products and tap into the enormous continental market of almost 1.4 billion people, under the African Continental Free Trade Area. Mpango also tasked the Ministry of Agriculture to fast track investments in cashew processing factories.
He stated: “It is imperative for African countries to work on reducing cashews consumer prices, so as to promote regional market for the crop and its related products. … Africa has a huge potential market of an estimated 1.4 billion people under the African Continental Free Trade Area, lets maximise this potential. Let us buy and consume cashew nut produced in our continent…But for this to happen, consumer prices must be affordable to the majority of our people.”
He implored the cashew growing countries in Africa to check and put an end to malpractices in the industry such as unfair grading of cashews and supply of counterfeit pesticides.
Source: dailynews.co.tz