MTWARA – Regional leaders from Mtwara, Ruvuma, and Lindi have agreed to export raw cashews using the Mtwara Port when the cashew season commences on October 21 this year.
Zainab Terack, the Regional Commissioner for Lindi, announced this during a meeting to review the pea, sesame, and preparations for the upcoming cashew season. The gathering, held at the regional commissioner’s office, was attended by district commissioners, district council directors, Lindi Municipality, agricultural officers, cooperative societies, financial institutions, primary cooperative unions, farmers, and storage facility operators.
Terack emphasized that all raw cashews from Lindi and Ruvuma regions should be brought to Mtwara Port for international shipping. She added that all transporters should reroute their trucks to Mtwara instead of heading to Dar es Salaam this season.
However, stakeholders present at the meeting raised concerns over challenges at Mtwara Port. They highlighted a shortage of storage containers and delays in cashew reception. Additionally, the storage costs at Mtwara were seen as considerably higher compared to the Dar es Salaam Port, which offers more extensive storage facilities and quicker turnaround times to collect other batches of raw cashews.
The stakeholders pointed out that if these challenges are not addressed, it could lead to reduced prices for farmers, as the increased transportation costs would impact the overall purchase prices.
Considering the anticipated collection of over 78,620,000 kilograms of raw cashews to be sold this season, addressing these concerns is imperative.