“We are keeping farmers informed on the real situation of the price
and at the same time guiding them to sell the cash crop direct to the
market,” TCB Director General Engineer, Adolph Kumburu said.
He also hinted that the government will soon come up with a special
fund to protect the welfare of farmers cultivating major cash crops
including coffee when prices of crops fall in the world market.
He said
the fund which is being established by the Ministry for Agriculture,
Food Security and Cooperatives is meant to ensure that farmers are not
affected by fallen cash crops prices.
“It will be called Price Stabilization Fund and coffee is one of the
targeted cash crops,” Eng Kumburu told the ‘Daily News’ in a telephone
interview on Monday when reacting to efforts being made to encourage
coffee farmers to continue farming following falling of cash crop prices
in the world market in recent months.
In Tarime for example, a kilogramme of Arabica coffee dropped from
1800/- last season to 1200 /- in the outgoing season, according to
officials. Eng Kumburu urged farmers to continue expanding coffee farms
instead of being disappointed by falling of prices of the cash crop.
“It is now time for farmers to expand their farms because coffee
prices fluctuate and it won’t take long for prices to be good again.
They will earn more if they use this period to expand production,” the
Director General explained.
Tanzania projected to earn about 200 million US dollars during the
outgoing season but the target is likely not to be attained after prices
of the cash crop fell in the world market.
Tanzania is Africa’s fourth
largest coffee producer after Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast. Coffee
is one of Tanzanian’s major exports bringing in foreign currency for
national development.
Source: The Daily News, www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Mugini Jacob in Mara
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