Tanzania’s meat export, revenue soars in 2023

Dar es Salaam. Meat export significantly increased by 65.6 percent in the first quarter of 2023 as compared to the same period in the preceding year, according to the Tanzania Meat Board (TMB).

Statistics from the TMB show that revenue generation increased by 110 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

TMB data shows that the country has successfully maintained the country’s progress recorded last year, when meat export rose during the Fifa World Cup finals held in Qatar.

According to TMB, Tanzania exported 4,577.5 tonnes of meat in the first quarter of 2023 as compared to 2,765 tonnes exported during the same period last year.

Furthermore, data shows that revenue from the export increased to Sh57.3 billion in the first quarter of this year as compared to Sh27.3 billion garnered in the preceding year.

The country has also managed to maintain and improve the value of meat export since last November 2022 when it broke the ice after exporting 1,423.012 tonnes up by 125 percent compared to 631,76 tonnes exported in the preceding month.

The volume of exports and respective generated revenue the following four months (December 2022 to March 2023) in brackets are; 1,496.15 tonnes (Sh15.8 billion); 1,399.80 tonnes (Sh13.7 billion); 1,596.93 tonnes (Sh14.8 billion) and 1,581tonnes (Sh14.4 billion), according to TMB.

Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, TMB marketing manager John Chasama attributed the trend to the country’s achievement in maintaining already secured markets.

He named the country’s markets as Comoro, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“We are scaling up efforts to secure the new meat markets and mobilize the youth in commercial livestock keeping and assure meat factories availability of quality raw materials,” he said.

Furthermore, he said TMB is mobilizing herders to scale up livestock fattening strategies, frequently inspecting meat production infrastructures and organising production of quality fodders for use during drought in order to avoid the shortage of raw materials for meat factories.

“We are also improving the business investment climate in order to attract new investors in the meat production chain,” he said.

TMB report shows that goat meat is by far leading export items after recording a whopping increase to 3,264.39 tonnes in the first quarter of 2023 as compared to 1,904.52 tonnes in 2022.

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According to the report, the trend shows that goat meat is followed by mutton; beef and chicken.

The director of production and marketing in the ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Mr Steven Michael said efforts are underway to increase the quality of livestock produced in the country.

He said 240 youths have been taken for modern livestock-keeping training in order to ensure that Tanzania's meat is globally recognised for its distinguished quality.

“We are planning to involve financial institutions in the provision of low interest loans in order to enable the youth to easily get capital. They will be provided with land in our efforts to enable them to receive training,” he said.

The strategy aims at fattening cattle in order to increase exports after a report found that goat meat was on the lead with cattle meat trailing far behind.

He said the private sector will be intensively involved in strengthening the domestic meat market and increasing the quality of raw materials for both domestic and foreign markets.

Official data from the ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development show that until May 2022, the total number of cattle in Tanzania stood at 35.3 million.

The country was also home to a total of 25.6 million goats during the same time.

Similarly, the sheep population in the country stood at 8.8 million until the end of May 2022, while the number of local chickens amounted to 92.8 million.

The TMB registrar, Dr Daniel Mushi, said goat meat accounts for the lion’s shares of the country’s meat exports, thanks to its good taste.

Yesterday, Dr Mushi said in order to protect the meat market, they are going to meet meat export stakeholders and set strategies that will increase their efficiency and that of breeders.

"We are planning to visit different regions in the country including Shinyanga, Mwanza, Morogoro and several others to educate breeders on the need to be mindful of following breeding principles.

He said during the tour, they will also set strategies that will protect domestic and foreign meat markets.