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| Cashew nuts |
Dar es Salaam. The government has ordered
Coast Region Co-operative Union (Corecu) and
Cashew Nut Board of Tanzania to bar from
export over 500 tonnes of raw cashew nuts
belonging to Sparkle Way Ltd until the firm
pays Sh3.4 billion it owes farmers in the Coast
Region.
On December 18, this year, the minister for
Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr
Mwigulu Nchemba, ordered Sparkle Way Ltd
to pay the debt owed to cashew nut farmers
worth Sh3.4 billion within 48 hours.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday the regional
commissioner for Coast Region, Mr Evarist
Ndikilo, said he had information that until
last week the company had paid Sh400 million
but the government’s stance is that unless the
total amount of debts are paid the responsible
company would not be allowed to continue
with cashew nut export transactions.
The situation implies that until last week the
amount of debt paid was only 33.3 per cent,
with the remaining figure amounting to Sh3
billion still being demanded by hundreds of
farmers in the Coast Region. Mr Ndikilo said it
was up to Corecu to track payment of such
debts for government’s approval of the
company to continue with cashew nut
transactions.
The minister said that it was up to responsible
authorities to track payments of the debts.
“So far I have got information that the
company has begun to effect payments, but I
don’t know the exact amount effected until
today. Please, ask the regional commissioner
because he will be in a position of knowing
the payment status,” said Mr Nchemba.
During a press conference convened by the
responsible minister 12 days ago to discuss
cashew nut marketing crisis in the Coast
region, the representative of the company, Mr
Salum Mkemi, claimed that the payment of
debts worth more than 500 metric tonnes of
cashew nut were not settled in time due to the
poor quality of cashew nuts.
Mr Mkemi said the company was worried
about incurring more costs arising from
exporting the consignment to India after
auctioning excise.
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