Tanzania's Director of Cereals and Produce Board, Dr Hussein Mansoor (left) and Kenya's Indopower Solutions CEO Mr Brian Mutembei sign the 100,000 tonnes of cashewnuts sale deal at the EAC in Arusha on January 30, 2019. Looking on are (from left) Minister for Industries and Trade, Joseph Kakunda; Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi; deputy Minister for Agriculture, Dr Innocent Bashungwa; and Kenya's ambassador o Tanzania Mr Dan Kazungu. PHOTO | TANZANIA FOREIGN MINISTRY
Last week’s announcement that Tanzania had struck a $180 million deal to sell 100,000 tonnes of its cashewnut stockpile to a Kenyan company, Indo Power Solutions, was perhaps the best news that the farmers, who had earlier surrendered their crop to the state, received in years.
Cashewnut farming has in recent years become a thorn in the farmers’ side, its market having been infiltrated by brokers bent on squeezing every cent out of the trade as they increased their margins — setting the farmers’ earnings on a downward slide.
