The premier also expressed satisfaction on reports that Tanzania has started registering barcodes for its honey and other allied products. He said in the US Tanzanian honey would be sold under its own brand known as "Tanzania Asali".
Mr Pinda said this when launching Honey Day at the 37th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) and noted that the barcodes will help identify the origin of the honey and its products a move that will add value to honey products.
Premier Pinda said the new system of registering honey with bar codes will make it easier to sell the product in local, regional and international markets.
"The government will continue to cooperate with all honey stakeholders to ensure the sector attains its goals and increases its contribution to the national economy," he said.
He explained that Tanzania is in a position to produce and sell more honey and wax in international markets if production is increased, however it only uses 6.7 and 6.5 per cent of the available opportunities of honey and wax respectively.
Premier Pinda said it is estimated that Tanzania has 9.2 million types of bees, with a capacity of producing 138,000 tonnes of honey and 9,200 tonnes of wax.
Mr Pinda who also is in the business of beekeeping said currently the county produces 8,153 tonnes of honey and 578.78 tonnes of wax per year and only 4.5 and 6.6 per cent of the honey and wax is sold in the foreign markets.
"The beekeeping sector has tremendous opportunities within local and foreign markets and currently about 400,000 tonnes of honey is sold in the global market, however from Tanzania is only a small per cent," he explained.
Citing an example, Mr Pinda said last year Tanzania exported 103 tonnes of honey, earning the country 262bn/-, while 277.4 tonnes of wax earned the country 2.6bn/-.
"The amount of honey and wax exported is so small, it does not even reach 1 per cent of the available opportunities at the world market," he explained.
He said in Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Uganda are the only countries allowed to sell honey and its products in the European market.
He said currently Tanzania sells honey and its products in German, France, Belgium, Italy, Holland, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique, Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Japan and United States of America.
The premier also presided over the ceremony to present awards to winners in the 37th DITF exhibitions, where the overall winner was the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), followed by Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) and in the third position was the Ardhi University.
Source: The Daily News, reported by Rose Athumani in Dar es Salaam