This archive report was first published on 27 July 2021.
Published on July 27, 2021, Tanzania's Cereals and Other Produce Board (CPB) has secured a significant market for maize and cereals in South Sudan.
Following a visit to Juba last month, CPB Director General Dr. Anselm Moshi announced plans to export approximately 200,000 tonnes of cereals, with the first shipment consisting of 60,000 tonnes of white sorghum this season.
The agreement was reached after CPB officials met with South Sudan's Ministry of Trade officials in June, who agreed to open the market to agricultural produce from Tanzania, facilitating trade between the two countries.
CPB is currently in discussions with the World Food Programme to sell 50,000 tonnes of maize in the next harvesting season, which will be distributed in South Sudan.
Additionally, CPB has partnered with Kapari Ltd to establish warehouses in Nairobi for storing 102,000 tonnes of maize in transit to South Sudan, as stated by Dr. Moshi.
As part of its export plans, CPB aims to purchase 298,000 tonnes of maize, sorghum, rice, beans, and sunflower seeds from farmers in the 2021/2022 harvest season for export to South Sudan and Kenya.
A Tsh7.5 billion ($3.2 million) agreement was signed between CPB and Grain Industries Ltd to purchase 144,000 tonnes of grains from Tanzania for sale in Kenya and South Sudan.
Tanzania's Minister for Agriculture, Prof. Adolf Mkenda, emphasized the country's efforts to explore regional food markets, with a team set to visit Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo to seek rice and maize markets.
Between 2019 and 2020, Tanzania produced 16.3 million tonnes of food crops, exceeding local annual demand of approximately 13 million tonnes.
As part of its efforts to attract investments in food crops production, Tanzania has scrapped about 150 nuisance taxes and levies imposed on agricultural products, aiming to boost competitiveness in agricultural production and secure export markets in regional states.
