Africado Ltd was established in the Kilimanjaro Region of Northern Tanzania in 2007 as the first grower in Tanzania of the Hass cultivar. Africado is Tanzania’s largest grower and exporter of avocados. In 2009, Africado successfully raised business growth capital from the Norwegian Development Finance Institution (NorFund) to complete the development of its avocado nucleus plantation farm (Kifufu Estate). The farm has planted 137 hectares of orchards to Hass and employs 140 full-time staff, and an additional 200 seasonal workers. Over 2,000 out-growers (farmers who supply avocados to Africado for export) are now engaged in the production of Hass. The farm was originally a long-abandoned coffee plantation that is now in its rehabilitated state producing 2,600 tonnes of Hass avocados a year. In December 2012, Africado Ltd, with their partner Westfalia Ltd of Tzaneen, South Africa, was awarded a grant by the TradeMark Africa Challenge Fund (TRAC) to assist with the construction of a state-of-the-art processing, cold-chain and packaging facility to export avocados grown and packed on site to EU and the Middle East-based customers via Mombasa port. By raising the competitiveness of Tanzanian agricultural products and being able to better access export markets for Tanzania produce, Africado has also increased the returns to its farmer suppliers by providing value-added services such as training and agricultural product quality assurance. Africado’s interest in establishing the packaging, cold-chain and export facility was to enable local producers like itself to gain direct access to export markets. Prior to the establishment of the facility,...

KILOSA, Tanzania (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The huge stock of maize Jumanne Masele put aside last year was enough to spare his family from hunger and earn him cash to repay his debts - or so he thought. A short while after Masele had finished stuffing the grain into a traditional storage cocoon, he realized much of it had been infested by fungus as ground moisture from heavy rain seeped in through the bottom of his store made of dried soil, sticks and grass. “There was nothing I could do to salvage my grains - it was a total loss,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Despite a bumper harvest, the farmer, 44, from Mbumi village in the east Tanzania district of Kilosa lost most of his crops, threatening his family’s food supply.  “I still don’t know how to store my harvests - traditional techniques are no longer effective as the grain easily rots when we get unexpected extra rains,” Masele said. Agriculture is the backbone of Tanzania’s economy, providing work for more than four fifths of the population. The rural sector accounts for over half the country’s gross domestic product and export earnings, according to national statistics. Yet as Tanzanian farmers struggle to market their crops, nearly 40 percent of grains are lost to poor storage and extreme weather, costing the nation $332 million every year, the government says. Efforts are underway to curb these losses. Since 2013, smallholder farmers in nine African countries have been getting help to...

Kampala- The founding First Ladies of the East African Community (EAC) have called for fast-tracking of the integration plans by the member countries. This call was made during a special sitting of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) in Arusha, Tanzania, on Tuesday. Ms Ngina Kenyatta, the widow of Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta, and Ms Miria Obote, the widow of former president Milton Obote, reminisced over the memories of the first EAC and challenged Eala members to ensure the future of integration is both guaranteed and realised. Ms Maria Nyerere, widow of Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, did not attend the function and was represented by Makongoro Nyerere, an Eala member. Ms Obote called for the prioritisation of economic investment projects, including oil refineries, the Standard Gauge Railway, agricultural research, food security and climate change. She urged the region to move faster to have an integrated syllabus and curriculum to stabilise the labour market within EAC. “For instance, a majority of Ugandans have never learnt proper Swahili. We are now learning proper Swahili in schools and in the public engagement. This is the best way towards integration,” she said. Ms Kenyatta informed the regional MPs that EAC’s founding fathers had “walked and worked tirelessly” in anticipation of unity of the region. “In 1967, all three of us were witnesses to the establishment of a community that spoke to that shared sentiment. The East African Community was built on the understanding that our nations and our people were...

The second round of Challenge Fund support for entrepreneurs working in the logistics and transport sector was launched recently with a financing mechanism in the range of $16m. The Logistics Innovation for Trade (LIFT) Challenge Fund, which is a $16 million (Tsh.35.2 billion) grant-based financial mechanism, supports innovators with good ideas for products or services that can reduce the costs of transport and logistics in East Africa. According to TradeMark Africa (TMA) which is a non-profit organization, LIFT will provide grants ranging from $ 150,000 to $ 1,000,000 (Tsh.330 million to Tsh.2.2billion respectively) to winning proposals from innovators from across the world whose project ideas will be implemented in the East African Community (EAC). East Africa is reported to have the highest freight and transport costs in the world. It is said that the freight costs are over 50% higher than those of the United States and Europe per kilometre. Successful LIFT projects will contribute to TMA’s objective of reducing transport time along the main East Africa transport corridors by 15% by the end of 2016. Dr. Josephat Kweka, Country Director Tanzania, TMA said it was their hope that the entrepreneurs and innovators of the EAC in partnership with their counterparts internationally will drive forward development through the adoption or introduction of ‘best practice’ technologies in the transport and logistics sector, enabling local businesses to compete favorably in the increasingly global economy. “LIFT is a valuable financial instrument that supports private sector ‘can-do’ to develop and test new ideas that...

The six East African States are set to replicate a new driving curriculum recently launched in Kenya as the region moves to harmonise its roads' instruction manual. East African Community (EAC) secretary-general Liberat Mfumukeko said Kenya's curriculum meets the standards of the proposed regional one that would be launched soon and adopted by all member states. The bloc's members include South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Mr Mfumukeko said EAC would use the syllabus to test the implementation of the regional training manual. "The curriculum that you have launched meets the requirements of the regional standards. We at the community will use the implementation modalities for the Kenyan curriculum to test the implementation of our manual guide," said Mr Mfumukeko. Last week, Kenya launched a new curriculum to replace the one that is currently on use as the country seeks to curb increasing cases of road accidents that have largely been attributed to human error. TradeMark Africa has developed the regional curriculum and training material for drivers of large commercial vehicles in EAC. The syllabus comprises the EAC standardised curriculum for drivers of large commercial vehicles for both passengers and freight. The curriculum was developed with input from Kenya's National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). The country's Transport Cabinet secretary James Macharia said it is important for the region to harmonise the driving curriculum for the benefit of member states. "It is good to note that we are heading towards harmonisation of the regional curriculum for drivers, this...

After years of frosty trade relations, Rwanda and Tanzania now seem focused on removing obstacles faced by traders on both sides of the border, especially congestion and theft of Rwandan goods at Tanzanian ports. President John Magufuli’s recent visit to Rwanda paved the way for the first ever Tanzania-Rwanda Trade Forum that was held in Kigali last week. One of the issues Rwandan traders complained about was rampant theft of minerals in Tanzania. The Tanzanian government has installed cameras and boosted security to secure Rwandan containers at the Dar es Salaam port. Previously Rwandan traders were not allowed access to the container station. But now they have complete access, which has helped secure goods. “Minerals from Rwanda are escorted by armed security from the time they arrive until the time they leave the port. Cameras were also installed at the port to monitor any kind of activity,” Emmanuel Kakuyu, head of Tanzanian trade delegation to Rwanda, said. “Minerals from Rwanda are now offered a special parking zone for easy monitoring, and transporters are also allowed access to the yards where the containers are held,” Mr Kakuyu added. But despite efforts to eliminate non-tariff barriers along the Central Corridor, many still exist: There are still seven weighbridges, as only one has been removed so far. Rwandan traders also still incur among the region’s highest in transport and logistics costs, making up as much as as 75 per cent of the value of exports and imports. For example, transporting semi-processed roofing materials...

Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) Manager for Investment Opportunities, Ms Grace Lemunge, told the ‘Daily News’ here yesterday that they were in discussion with some potential investors who took part in the Africa PPB-EXPO and had shown interest to invest in the country. “So far we have had business discussion with three big companies present here to come and invest here...” she said at the exhibitions organised by Egyptian manufacturers of plastic, rubber, petrochemical and building materials in Dar es Salaam. She said OPC-Carbon Holdings has shows interest on building Ammonia plant in southern part of our country which is expected to stimulate the ongoing oil and gas exploration and would encourage mining sector as the gas is used in extraction of metals. Ammonia is also used as a refrigerant gas, for purification of water supplies and in the manufacture of plastics, explosives, textiles, pesticides, dyes and other chemicals. Ms Lemunge also said EPZA was inviting other participants in the exhibition and investors from Egypt to come and invest in Tanzania in building materials industries due to the high demand of the materials. “We have a shortage of building materials in our country, therefore we import most of them especially tiles, we are looking forward to convince these tiles companies here to build tiles industries in Tanzania, that will not only assure employment opportunities to our people, but also will reduce the foreign currencies we use when we import these building materials,” she noted. According to her, there were investment...

Trade policy must be carefully crafted to ensure trade helps to reduce poverty, concluded a joint WTO-World Bank forum on 26 May, with speakers explaining how sound policies can help farmers, women and workers benefit from trade. The forum focused on rural poverty and gender inequality, employment and poverty alleviation, data gathering, and the Aid for Trade initiative. “Lowering trade costs faced by developing countries and integrating them into the trading system is essential,” Anabel González of the World Bank Group said. “But we have learned that this process of integration has the greatest impact on poverty reduction when poor people have been connected to the benefits of trade, with their capacities to gain maximized, and their vulnerabilities addressed,” she said. The WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement and Aid for Trade can help make it easier for small players in developing countries to participate in the international trading system, said Bridget Chilala, Director of the WTO's Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation. There remains room, however, to explore more ways to ensure trade eradicates poverty, she said. Rural poverty In the agriculture sector, several speakers called on policymakers to refrain from protectionist strategies as the trade distortions can hurt the rural poor, particularly in developing countries. “One thing that is really important to keep in mind when considering the role of trade policy in agriculture is that most developing countries' agricultural trade is now with other developing countries,” said Will Martin, the President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists. “Very...

Business leaders meeting today (30 May 2016) at the WTO headquarters outlined how the organization could address the current needs of the business community. In addition to the current negotiating agenda, they urged the WTO to look at a wide range of issues such as electronic commerce, rules to better facilitate services and investment flows, support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, action to provide trade finance, and many others. The Trade Dialogues event brought together over 60 business leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face in conducting trade operations and to discuss how the WTO can help in dealing with them. The attendees were from small and large enterprises, from developed and developing countries, and from a variety of sectors. The event was held at the request of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the B20 group of leading independent business associations from G20 economies, and facilitated by the WTO. The businesses that participated in the event are listed below. This high-level event for the business community is the first of its kind to be held at the WTO. It is part of a series of ‘Trade dialogues’ that will provide a range of stakeholders with the possibility to discuss their concerns on trade-related matters. Participants were welcomed by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo. This opening session was followed by break-out sessions where participants engaged in a focused dialogue in small groups. These sessions were chaired by four ’discussion leaders’: Sunil Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti...

Over 4000 clearing and forwarding agents have received training in clearing and forwarding to match with the growing trade in the East African Community. The training is part of the  $2.1m program funded by Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) and implemented by the East Africa regional freight forwarding Association  (FEAFFA) in conjunction with the East Africa Revenue Authorities (EARA). TMA's chief executive officer, Frank Matsaert said the training program was aimed at addressing the skills gap among freight forwarders and clearing agents in the region. He explained that the training was based on a survey by TMA that found out that freight forwarders and clearing agents lacked the necessary skills and capacity in clearing cargo at the border points resulting into delays, increase in cargo clearance costs and cargo release times. "The training could save companies up to 385 dollars in savings as the same amount of money could have been spent in fines by companies whose agents commit errors in the process of clearing," said Matsaert. He added that through training key people in freight forwarding businesses, there will be increased trade transactions. "Where you see trade grow you see prosperity take root. By training the key people in the freight forwarding business, we are helping move goods quicker, save time and money and help the region develop" added Matseart. According to him, the efficient flow of international trade relies on a range of skilled service providers working together, clearing and forwarding agents. Since 2011, 90 per cent of...