The problem of declining Cashewnut production in Tanzania

Aim and Scope: the development policy towards agricultural export crops in Tanzania has of recent been focussing first on increased volume of crops to be exported i.e. increase the production of the hitherto- traditional export crops; secondly and more importantly to try whenever possible to undertake processing of such crops before exportation so as to attain higher level of value added for these crops and so fetch higher prices on the world market than would otherwise have been obtained had they been exported in their raw form. For such a policy then, any decline in the output of any of the export crops should be of major concern; more so especially where reasons for such a decline are domestic ones and therefore within the control of domestic economic policy. One such crop that has been experiencing declining trends in output and therefore in the volume exported the causes of which are seen to the primarily domestic, is cashewnuts. The decline and at one time slow recovery of raw nut production in Tanzania, requires a through analysis as to its causes and possible remedies to be applied so as to reverse the declining trend and so avoid contradictions which have already started emerging in the initiation of policies and their implementation in the areas of processing and marketing. It is the intention of this paper then to examine trends in cashewnut production, the implications of the trends to the economy as a whole and the possible causes that have led to declining raw nut production observable in Tanzania since 1973/74, so as to come up with policy recommendations for reversing the trend in cashewnut production. Organization of the paper: this paper is devided into seven chapters, The first chapter is the introductory part which sets the aim and scope of the paper in general as well as posing the problem at hand in brief; it also sets out in short how the paper is organised. The second chapter deals with the significance of the cashewnut industry in Tanzania, whose significance makes it worth while to undertake the study. Chapter three draws a brief picture of the cashew economy in Tanzania and the World in general. Chapter four sets out the central problem of declining cashewnut production in relation to planned output and relative to different government policies and actions to the contrary. Chapter five comes up with the inplications for which such a declining trend in production leads to, in terms of foreign exchange earnings, revenue to the government etc. chapter six makes an analysis of the likely reasons or causes for the declining trend in cashewnut production. Chapter seven brings up proposed policy measures to reverse the declining trend and also presents the summary and conclusion of the paper.