Tanzania’s horticulture gets lucrative new market

Arusha. The future looks bright for Tanzania’s horticulture industry as a lucrative new market in Europe beckons for produce from the country.

The local horticulture umbrella body, Taha, recently sent a high-powered delegation of growers and exporters to showcase the local industry’s potential at Europe’s premier fresh produce trade show – Fruit Logistica – in Berlin.

Taha’s pavilion emerged the best among its African peers, according to the organisers, pulling in hundreds of potential buyers seeking to strike purchasing deals with exporters to supply them with avocados, okra, bitter gourd and African bird’s eye chilli, among other products.

One of the buyers is Frankfurt-based Daily Green Company, which showed interest in Tanzania’s okra, bitter gourd and African bird’s eye chilli.

This prompted the firm to dispatch a high-ranking official to Arusha to seal an export deal with local farmers.

In its engagement with the Taha management, led by chief development manager Anthony Chamanga, the German firm said it requires a minimum of 2,340 tonnes of okra annually which could earn Tanzanian farmers at least Sh3.51 billion.

“We are grateful for your commitment and we appreciate the fact that you have travelled all the way from Germany to Tanzania to strike a business deal. We at Taha will support you throughout,” Mr Chamanga told the Daily Green official.

Daily Green is also ready to purchase at least 2,880 tonnes of bitter gourd and 520 tonnes of African bird’s eye chilli that could potentially earn  farmers in Tanzania Sh4.32 billion and Sh780 million, respectively.

“Our customers can hardly wait for fresh okra, bitter gourd and African bird’s eye chilli from Tanzania. We expect to start exporting sizeable quantities once all preparations are finalised,” Mr Chamanga said.

Taha has also engaged five potential investors who have shown interest in bringing capital and cutting-edge technology into Tanzania’s horticulture industry.

Mr Chamanga pledged Taha’s continuous support of prospective buyers and investors.

He also thanked Taha’s development partners, including the government, Swedish embassy, World Food Programme (WFP), and the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB), for making it possible for the organisation to participate in the prestigious Fruit Logistica trade show in Berlin, where the body managed to open a new export window for horticultural crops from Tanzania.

As part of efforts to encourage farmers to tap the niche market, Mr Chamanga promised that the lion’s share of new business opportunities would be dedicated to Tanzanian women and youth.

This is part of Taha’s strategy of complementing the government’s Building a Better Tomorrow (BBT) initiative.

The latest move is a huge boost for Tanzania’s horticulture industry since it opens doors for more smallholder farmers to reach international consumers, Mr Chamanga noted.

A significant amount of fresh horticultural produce is consumed locally and observers say access to new international markets would spur the industry to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years.

Quoting Bank of Tanzania figures, Taha CEO Jacqueline Mkindi said the industry earned the economy nearly $418 million in 2023, up from $290 million in 2022, making horticulture a nascent enterprise to watch in terms of job and wealth creation.

“The government has developed a strategy that aims to spur the horticulture industry’s growth and enable it to earn the economy at least $2 billion annually by 2030 and create decent jobs for the country’s women and youth along the entire value chain ,” she added.