What investors in Tanzania stand to gain from coconut

Dar es Salaam. Coconut crop is also known as a tree of life due to its long life span. Coconut farming is a huge investment because a grower can have his/her next generation inherit it.

Tanzanians stand a big chance of exploiting its many economic benefits given the fact that it grows in many places of the country.

In a move to boost its production, the government, through the Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (Tari), has laid down strategies of reviving coconut farming, improving the sector and distributing the East African Tall variety to all coconut-growing regions.

The new East African Tall variety has the potential to withstand drought conditions, coconut lethal diseases and is resistant to pests.

Tari’s Mikocheni Centre manager Fredy Tairo advises farmers to venture into coconut farming for increased income.

“Whatever comes from the coconut is usable. Coconut tree is good for timber and its leaves are used for roofing, and for making mats and carpets,” he says.

From coconut shell, one can make cooking bolls, charcoal, the mature coconut can be used as a refreshment and snack at the same time, he adds.

He encourages investors and small-scale farmers to use the tall variety and later add value to the produce. Farmers grow the coconut crop for cooking and for extracting ointment oil.

“Coconut farming is potential for business. It can contribute a lot to fill the gap of cooking oil deficit,” he says.

According to Dr Tairo, coconut has the capacity to contribute about 80 percent of edible oil and fill the gap of cooking oil imports.

He says a new technology has already been introduced on coconut oil extraction to add value to the crop which is value addition that uses a simple machine instead of coconut sold at Sh400.

According to him, through a simple machine a farmer can add value by extracting oil which pays handsomely.

To get a litre of virgin coconut oil requires about 20 coconuts. This is an equivalent of about Sh8,000. However, if a farmer decides to extract oil, this one litre can be sold for Sh40,000, making this venture five times more profitable.

Tari has already started the dissemination of the technologies through farmers’ groups, which is where Tari is heading.

Tari is also focusing on encouraging coconut farming to meet manufacturing needs.

Currently, due to shortage of local production of coconut milk, this is imported from Thailand and Indonesia. But now through the establishment of the plantation in five to six years’ time, local production will be able to satisfy the industry’s raw materials.

As pointed earlier, the crop can thrive through several family generations because the trees can continue producing coconuts for up to about 70 years or more.

Not only that, but also Tari has teamed up with local authorities so that they can work together and boost the coconut production. The focus is on both small and large-scale farmers wanting to establish coconut plantations.

He notes that the East Africa Tall variety starts yielding between the age of five and six years.

Coconut production

However, the production of the coconut crop has recently declined compared to previous years when the country used to have 25 million coconut trees in the country. The area grown was 265,000 hectares which reflect 800 metric tonnes of nuts in the country.

The decline was mainly due to prolonged challenges such as drought, pests, and coconut lethal disease, which is the biggest problem and also the sector for some period was neglected, causing the decline.

Now Tari, which is a government arm, is working hard to ensure the production of coconut is increased or doubled from the previous 25 million in the next five years.

Normally, the coconut crop requires a sandy loam soil, deep soil which allows aeration and water to pass through and it also requires rainfall that is why it does well along the coast.

According to him, after conducting research on the crop for 25 years in Tanzania they came up with three major coco

nuts called sub populations but the best prosed coconut is the East African Tall which can withstand drought conditions and coconut lethal diseases, other two coconut populations are dwarf and hybrid and their life spans last between 25 to 30 years.

But now they are focusing on the East African Tall because it sustains well with the condition.

When talking and focusing on coconuts, basically it is a crop that was grown along the eastern parts of the country including Tanga, Morogoro, Lindi, Coast Region and Dar es Salaam as well as Mtwara and all regions of Zanzibar but now there are new potential regions to grow the crop including Mbeya particularly in Kyela, Kigoma, Mwanza and Musoma.

According to him, about 95 per cent of the crop is grown and produced by small-scale farmers who own an average of a hectare. Medium and large-scale producers account for only 5 per cent of the coconut production in Tanzania.

However, in a move to boost the coconut production, the government has come back to revive the coconut sector and the focus is on planting new East Africa Tall coconuts.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Tanzania’s annual demand for edible oil is 650,000 tonnes as compared to 290,000 tonnes produced locally, hence making a deficit of 360,000 tonnes.

Edible oil demand forecast shows that 700,000 tonnes would be required by 2030, therefore, guaranteeing the market growth for investors in the foreseeable future.

The government has been promoting seed crops farming for the purpose of mitigating the shortage.

However, more efforts are needed as this type of agriculture still faces many challenges