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| Agriculture Deputy Minister, Antony Mavunde (second left) listens to ATCL Managing Director, Ladislaus Matindi (right) during the launch of the maiden shipment of Tanzanian avocados to India at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Da es Salaam recently. Centre is Kamal Group Director, Sameer Santosh Gupta who is the coordinator of the Avocado market in India. |
Tanzania has already secured permits to access India and South African markets and now, Tanzania Horticultural Association (Taha) and the government are working to open the China avocado market.
Agriculture deputy minister Antony Mavunde said India granted market access to Tanzania’s avocados last November.
Mr Mavunde was speaking at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) before the Air Tanzania Company Limited’s (ATCL) Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying two tonnes of the fruit, took off.
“This is an opportunity that we need to capitalise on in order to up our avocado exports,” he said.
He said out of 40,000 tonnes of avocados that Tanzania is currently producing per annum, only 9,000 tonnes were being exported.
Mr Mavunde said the government had plans to establish a common user facility meant for receiving avocado from farmers, rating and grading them to ensure they meet international standards.
Kamal Steel Limited director Sameer Santosh Gupta, who is the champion of the market, detailed how the Dar es Salaam-based company worked with relevant authorities in Tanzania and India to ensure that the latter allows the avocado entry into its supermarkets. “Whenever I went to India, I could buy avocados from Peru, Mexico and New Zealand while I understand we have a lot of tasty avocadoes here in Tanzania. That’s how the journey started,” he said.
Despite being largely engaged in steel production, he said, the company understands that agriculture accounts for a good share of Tanzania’s economy.
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