Cashew nuts are amply farmed in the Southern Tanzania regions. But how is domestic consumption of these nuts?
The Director General of the Cashew Board of Tanzania, Alfred Francis reveals that the country consumes around 5,000 tons per year.
Tanzania produces more than 400,000 metric tons of cashew nuts per season.
By comparison, the management of the Cashew Board of Tanzania (CBT) feels that the local intake of the nuts is not enough.
To repair that, CBT is thus organizing a sporting event in Southern Tanzania, to promote the intake of cashews in the country.
It comes in the form of an athletic event known as ‘Korosho Marathon’ taking place on the second day of September 2, 2023 in Mtwara.
The racing event has been tailored for promoting Tanzania’s cashew domestically and internationally.
“We want to boost domestic consumption of the nuts while at the same time working to attract more overseas markets,” Francis stated.
Korosho Marathon features, among other events, the main 21.2 kilometers race, whose top 20 winners in both male and female categories stand to pocket hefty cash prizes amounting to 4.5 million/-
The lesser distanced 10 kilometers race will see winners awarded cash prizes reaching 2.5 million/-.
Other prizes include packs of cashew nuts, jerseys and trophies in addition to the usual medals.
Money raised from the event will be invested, money to be netted from the event will be used to boost the small scale cashew processors as well as in buying desks for primary schools in Lindi and Mtwara regions.
Meanwhile the Cashew Board is also planning to construct a mega Industrial Park at Malanje area in Mtwara region at the cost of USD 116 million, translating into 273 billion/- in local currency.
The industrial park covering 1500 hectares features more than 30 modern cashew processing plants as well as packaging hubs for valued added products and trading centers.
More than 300,000 tons of cashew nuts will be able to be processed at the facility once it goes into operation later this year.
Farmed in 12 regions of mainland Tanzania, cashew from the country meets 98 percent of international standards high grade products but unfortunately for many years the crop has always been exported in raw form.
Tanzania accounts for 20 percent of Africa’s cashew nuts and trails only in production of Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau, according to figures by United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
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