Tanzania’s grape industry is set for a boom after the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) unveiled plans to scale up financing to boost up the value chain. According to TADB’s Manager for Central and Northern Zone, Yodas Mwanakatwe, the bank would provide funding for grape processors to enhance the value chain of the crop identified as strategic by the government.
"TADB is ready to support farmers by enhancing value addition of the grapes by financing grapes processors," said Mr Mwanakatwe during the Dodoma Wine Festivals held in the city over the weekend.
The government identified grapes as a strategic cash crop and initiated measures to boost its productivity for the nascent wine industry in Tanzania.
About 11,552 tons of the total production in 2018/19 were sold to local and foreign markets, 65 per cent of which were sold to Tanzanian wine production factories, 19 per cent were sold on the Tanzanian retail market, and the remaining 16 per cent were exported to the neighboring country.
Source: allafrica.com
