CAG report reveals agroprocessing failure to cut post-harvest losses

The study aimed at examining the performance of the ministries of Industry, Trade and Investment (Miti) and Agriculture (MoA) and providing recommendations for required improvement.

Agroprocessing was made a focus because it accounts for 55 percent of the total manufacturing output and 65 percent of the total country’s employment.

Also, over 80 percent of agroprocessing companies were small, serving local markets, with scholars and reports pointing out the importance and challenges related to the management of agroprocessing and value addition of crops at international and national levels.

The audit was motivated by the reported agroprocessing challenges, such as declining performance trends of agroprocessing activities that called for improvement in order to maximise the benefits of the agricultural sector through improved management of agroprocessing and value addition of crops.

However, the CAG report shows that Miti and MoA were found not to effectively manage activities for agro-processing and value addition of crops in order to reduce postharvest losses, improve farmers’ economies, and increase the sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The ministries inadequately ensured the provision of a conducive business environment to agroprocessors. The needed agroprocessing and value addition technologies were still inadequately available to the majority of small and medium agroprocessing, and the few available were not easily accessible due to their relatively high cost,” reads part of the CAG report. Furthermore, the CAG report shows that as a result, there was an insignificant improvement in postharvest losses, which averaged 40 percent of all harvested produce, and low-quality processed crop products that were not competitive in the external market.

However, there were inadequate mechanisms for facilitating the availability and accessibility of the needed processing and value-addition technologies, and weak coordination and monitoring were the main causes for the under performance of the agroprocessing activities.

“Increased trend of postharvest losses resulted in the shortage of raw materials for efficient operation of the available agro-processing industries as well as putting a risk to the national food security as marked by the marginal food security data or the existence of agro-processing industries that were not functional,” reads another part of the report.

The findings also show that, similarly, the absence of effective mechanisms for funding and implementation of the available strategies in agro-processing were also the causes of the ineffective management of agro-processing and value addition of crops.

The document reads that regardless of the establishment of the National Post-Harvest Management Strategy (NPHMS), the audit found that the established strategy did not indicate how the current levels of post-harvest losses, which account for 40 percent for cereals and higher for horticultural crops, would be reduced annually. Furthermore, the report’s findings show that the lack of aggregate performance indicators over a 10-year time frame of the implementation of NPHMS anticipates difficulties in assessing the strategy during its final evaluation.

“Moreover, the baseline study for establishing the Situation on Postharvest Losses of Food Crops undertaken in April 2022 indicates that postharvest losses for different crops were; 15.1 percent for maize, 15.5 percent for rice, and 19.3 percent for cassava,” reads part of the document.

“These losses were found to be lower than 20 percent of the target set by the Malabo Declaration, to which Tanzania is a signatory. Bearing in mind that the evaluation was undertaken in seven districts in the country covering few crops, it was not an adequately representative sample to provide a national wide picture of the postharvest loss,” reads another part.

Moreover, the findings say the post-harvest loss was noted to be higher than 40 percent for horticultural crops, which indicates a need for more efforts to reduce post-harvest loss incidences through improved agroprocessing and value addition of crops.

In his recommendations, CAG Kichere directed the MoA to improve the availability and accessibility of technologies for agroprocessing and the value addition of crops.

“The MoA should ensure block farming production is effectively implemented to improve the availability of raw materials for agroprocessing activities in order to cover the existing gap in raw materials for agroprocessing industries and provide quality raw materials that suit the existing agroprocessing technologies,” according to the document.

In order to enhance coordination between the Miti and MoA, he directs the Agriculture docket to devise mechanisms for coordinating with Miti to avoid duplication of activities in various areas, such as marketing and agroprocessing activities, noting that the same applies to Miti.

MoA should effectively implement the postharvest management strategy and report on its implementation to ensure the availability of quality products for agroprocessors.

In order to improve the availability and accessibility of technologies for agroprocessing and value addition of crops, Miti was recommended to foster the capacity-building strategy of technology development centres so as to have improved technologies for manufacturing machines.

It was also recommended that Miti devise mechanisms for reducing the cost of locally manufactured machines and lobby for subsidies on imported machinery and raw materials in order to enable easy access to the available technologies for agroprocessors.

“In order to improve availability and accessibility of markets for the agroprocessed products, Miti should enforce effective implementation of the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Small Industries Development Organisation (Sido) and the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) to facilitate the timely acquisition of the Standard Mark and Certification in order to assure the quality of the processed agro-products to attract internal and external markets,” he says in a report.

“Miti should also enhance an improved strategy to supplement exhibitions made at the national and zonal levels to ensure there is adequate availability and accessibility of internal and external markets,” adds the CAG.

Furthermore, the CAG says that, in collaboration with stakeholders, Miti should provide a good working environment to agro-processors to ensure the availability of quality packaging materials that will improve access to markets for agro-processed products.

Miti should also ensure that Sido establishes an Information Communication Technology (ICT) system for capturing its activities, including the registration of Small Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) and consultancy services.

“The system should enable Sido to keep a database and update the status of SMEs to enable tracking of their development in the industrial sector,” according to the CAG.

Post-harvest situation

In the sub-Saharan countries, food loss is estimated at 39 percent: 37 percent at handling and storage and 13 percent at distribution and marketing.

On the other hand, in sub-Saharan countries, food waste is estimated at five percent during consumption and seven percent during processing.

Despite having a favourable agricultural climate that supports a variety of crops, the CAG report says Tanzania still lags behind in agro-processing, and as a result, the country is highly dependent on imported processed food products.

The number of agro-processing activities in Tanzania is limited, as most of the agricultural products are exported in their raw forms.

“Measures should be taken to ensure an increase in processing ventures, which will develop Tanzania’s economy by reducing the balance of payments through increasing exports while reducing imports, according to the Tanzania Industrial Competitiveness Report, 2015,” reads the CAG report.

Source: The Citizen