By APOLINARI TAIRO

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Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu has indicated a relaxed export policy on food crops but introduced rules that dealers must adhere to ensure local food sufficiency.

On Farmers Day on Tuesday President Samia said exporters of food crops, mostly maize and other cereals, could now buy from the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) instead of directly purchasing from farmers and crops market agents.

The idea, she told a gathering of farmers in Mbeya, southern Tanzania, is to protect farmers from middlemen as well as to determine the amount of extra tonnage available for export.

Dodoma says it has not banned any food exports in spite of recent tiffs between traders and authorities, especially at the Kenya-Tanzanian border, which saw long lines of trucks stranded for days.

Read: Tanzania bears brunt of maize export restrictions as prices drop

“Traders from outside Tanzania come freely then go to purchase food crops directly from the farmers in villages, hiring vehicles to ferry the crops across our borders”, Samia noted.

“We need to control this crop business system for our farmers to benefit since traders used to buy the produce at low prices”, she said.
“I want the National Food Reserve Agency to the only one to sell food crops to the exporters of the produce. Farmers should not sell the produce directly to traders for export markets”, she said.

Export modalitiies

The president directed the ministries of Agriculture and Finance to work together with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to formulate modalities for buying and exporting food crops.

Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe told the president during the event that the government had released Tsh320 billion ($128 million) to the NFRA for the purchase of maize and other produce from growers this year. This means farmers who want to export maize must now sell it to the grain reserve, which will in turn sell surplus food to the foreign buyers to avert acute grain shortages when farmers choose to sell to exporters and avoid local markets.

Tanzania produces 18 million tonnes of grain per year against local consumption of 15 million tonnes, creating a surplus for export. However, amid high demand for cereals and other food crops in the region, farmers and middlemen have often looked for the highest bidder, resulting in high food prices in Tanzania.

Read: Tanzania inflation now 3.6pc, BoT says

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the price of maize flour in Dar es Salaam ranges between Tsh1,200 ($48 cents) and Tsh1,800 ($72 cent) per kilogramme while a kilo of rice costs between (Tsh2,500 ($1) and Tsh2,800 ($1.1). Dried beans sell at between Tsh3,000 ($ 1.2) and Tsh3,500 ($ 1.4) a kilo.

The retail price of sugar is regulated by the government, and sold between Tsh2,800 ($ 1.1) and Tsh3,200 ($ 1.3).

Food prices, mostly cereals have their retail prices pegged and determined by distance from.