According to recent estimates, there is a predicted gap of 39,000 tonnes of cashew output in 2015/16 crop-buying season in Tanzania. The reason for this 20% drop is said to be bad weather and poor farming methods.
The director general of Cashew nut Board of Tanzania (CBT), Mr Mfaume Juma, said that until the end of December 2015, some 130,000 tonnes of cashew were collected and the expectation is to achieve the output of about 150,000 tonnes at the end of crop-buying season, which ends next month.
"Although the prices for cashews had increased from Sh1,700 in the last farming season to Sh2,200 a kilo this season, collected output is still low at 130,000 tonnes," he says.
Agribusiness consultant Ebron Mwakalinga, who has done studies on cashew farming, says apart from the erratic rainfall arising from climate change, cashew farmers face the chronic problem of declining output due to three factors: poor farming methods, crop shifting cultivation and the use of bush fires for weeding.
According to 2014 report of Agricultural Non-State Actors Forum, Tanzania is Africa's largest cashew nut grower after Nigeria and Ivory Coast, and the world's eighth biggest producer.
In its November economic review the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) reported that the value of cashew nut exports increased from $137.8 million (Sh276 billion) at the end of October 2014 to $555.7 million (Sh1.1 trillion) at the end of October 2015.
