Moshi. Two multinational corporations – Akida Group and Twiga Foods – are making inroads into Tanzania’s banana sub-sector, thus giving a ray of hope to growers and the country in general.
This is if only because doing so would unlock what has the potential to become a multi-billion dollar trade.
Millions of smallholder farmers in Tanzania rely on bananas as a staple food and a major source of income, with official figures showing that Tanzania and Uganda next-door produce over a half of all the banana crop in Africa.
The continent’s annual banana exports are valued at $4.3 billion.
Lately, farmers in Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Manyara regions have been uprooting their traditional banana plants for lack of a ready market for them – and are replacing them with other crops, including particularly avocados.
But this could now change, as the Akida Group and Twiga Foods Limited are promising to inject change the narrative.
Akida is a subsidiary of ATB, one of the leading retail trade companies in the Ukraine with over 1,500 supermarket chains and over 15,000 employees.
Although it is newly registered in Tanzania, Akida intends to leverage on experiences from its existing business ties with Latin America, Western Europe and West Africa through its parent company based in Dnipro, the Ukraine.
Twiga, for its part, is a Kenyan firm which is seeking to extend its wings to its southern neighbour Tanzania after tapping into Uganda’s $29 billion-worth informal retail food market, according to its chief operations Manager, Mr Kikonde Mwatela.
The company distributes 100 tonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables across Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu daily, a trade which is projected to grow to 550 tonnes by January next year.
Akida cannot wait to export at least 10 containers of Cavendish bananas each month to satisfy its world’s hungry supermarket chains, while Twiga needs at least 100 tonnes for its bananas-ripening facility in Kenya to operate to its full capacity of ripening 150 tonnes of the fruit daily.
“We’ve already commenced talks with Tanzania’s horticulture industry champion, the Taha Group, so that we can start hauling 70 tonnes of bananas by December,” said an Akida Group official, Dr Promise Isaac.
Presenting the opportunity recently at a maiden banana crop forum in Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region, Dr Isaac said his firm intends to roll out a trading platform for the export of bananas, and join the Economic Processing Zone for industrialization, as well as embark on local processing, packaging and packing of the fruit.
“Our hope is that, through our operations and involvement in the Tanzanian ecosystem, we’ll bring about positive changes and cause a ripple effect that would positively impact families, businesses, communities, the entire nation and the region – and, hopefully, the entire continent,” he explained.
The Taha Group Chief Executive Officer, Ms Jacqueline Mkindi, assured the two corporations that Taha has been working with the government on the business constraints that still hinder the growth of horticulture and creating a conducive business landscape in the country.
“About 50 policy and legal challenges have been addressed to allow the horticultural industry to grow,” said Ms Mkindi, explaining that Taha has created a local transport and logistics company as part of the improvements: Taha Fresh Handling Ltd.
“Taha has also established a local conformity assessment body, Greencert, for inspections, certifications and training services on local, regional and international standards systems – and has developed a banana commercialisation strategy,” she added.
The Tanzania Minister for Agriculture, Prof Adolf Mkenda, said the government would convene a national banana forum by the end of November this year to deliberate on the promotion of the crop. However, the arrival of the two international firms compelled the sub-sector to hold one in the Northern Zone.
“I proposed to them that they should begin buying bananas in Kagera Region, which leads in the production of the crop countrywide. But, they insisted on buying the crop in the Northern Zone for the sake of logistics, as it is a stone’s throw away from Mombasa Port,” the minister stated.
“Since the firms would not wait for the national banana forum in November, we agreed to convene this meeting – lest we miss the opportunity,” he explained.
Prof Mkenda said Kagera Region would certainly jump onto the bandwagon upon completion of the standard gauge railway (SGR). But, in the meantime, the government is mulling over procuring boats fitted with cold storage facilities on which to transport the otherwise perishable crop to Kisumu Port in Kenya.
The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government Authorities (PO-RALG) Prof Riziki Shemdoe, directed district, town, municipal and city councils to fast-track construction of banana collection centres in their areas of jurisdiction.
“Agricultural experts should liaise with Taha, researchers and other stakeholders in the private sector to strengthen the provision of extension services to farmers,” said Prof Shemdoe, insisting that promotion of bananas production would increase revenue to local authorities through cess and other levies.
Mr Zebadia Moshi, the Taha Board chairman, said the productivity of crops heavily relies on expertise and the management of farms. He, therefore, called on the Ministry of Agriculture to consider recruiting sufficient experts to identify quality seeds and markets if it is to take the sector to the next higher level. Agriculture is generally considered to be the backbone of Tanzania’s economy.
