By Nancy Marangu, Kimwaga Mhando and Jacinta Mwau
This is an important time for Tanzanian farmers cropping calendar. The main harvest season for our staple foods – maize and other cereals – approaches its end during this time so food is typically plentiful. The just concluded Nanenane exhibitions across the country, culminating in the Nanenane public holiday on 8th August, are an annual celebration of Tanzanian farmers and a potent reminder of – lest we forget – their importance for not only our sustenance but also for our economic outlook as a nation and the entire East Africa region. Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and the EAGC Regional Agricultural Trade Intelligence Network (RATIN) show that in the period July 2022 to April 2023, the country exported 767,840 metric tons of maize and rice worth USD 252.55 million and 396,756 metric tons of pigeon peas, chickpeas and sesame worth USD 279.41. The agenda 10/30 program has also set an ambitious target to position Tanzania as Africa’s food basket by providing 20% of Africa’s food import gap by 2030.
Achieving such targets requires many things to fall in place. In this piece, we discuss post-harvest technologies as just one of these requirements. Like many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzanian food crop value chains struggle with losses of produce and/or deterioration of their quality after harvest, usually referred to as post-harvest losses. Statistics of such losses vary significantly but are typically estimated from anywhere between 15 to 30% of production. To put that into context, we lose approximately 1.3 million metric tons of maize annually worth a whopping TZS 640 billion. By whichever metric, this is a significant loss of food and value especially amidst the high cost of farm inputs, climate change, and high cost of food.
The causes of post-harvest losses are multifaceted, ranging from inadequate post-harvest handling and storage practices by farmers to the exacerbating effects of climate change on pest pressure. The use of typical storage practices by smallholder farmers and aggregators is not up to the task given pressures on our food systems exerted by a growing population and depleting resources.
Fortunately, it is not all doom and gloom. To combat post-harvest losses, one promising solution is hermetic storage, which involves the use of air-tight containers to control pests without the need for harmful pesticides. Hermetic storage bags, in particular, have shown immense potential in reducing post-harvest losses. Storage in hermetic bags has consistently been proven to eliminate pest damage and preserve the quality of dry food commodities provided they are used correctly. They can also be re-used for at least 3 seasons which, unlike conventional storage bags, helps to reduce plastic waste and pollution in the environment.
However, one challenge to their adoption is the prohibitive cost of these bags. A typical 100kg hermetic bag retails at about Tshs 5,000 apiece, much more expensive than conventional bags. The high cost can partly be attributed to Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed on these products which increases their price beyond the affordability of most smallholder farmers.
Studies have shown that removing VAT on hermetic bags is a critical step towards making post-harvest technologies more affordable and accessible for farmers. By some estimates, increased adoption of these products should not only benefit farmers by saving them money but also have a far-reaching positive impact on the economy and food security.
How so, you may wonder. Well firstly,if VAT is removed and uptake of hermetic bags subsequently increases by 50% among current userswhile current non-users each start using 2 hermetic bags, both current users and non-users are expected to save an additional 40kg of grain annually, which sums up to 160,000MT of maize grain saved worth Tshs 56 billion (US$ 24 million) per year. Over the 3-year lifespan of a hermetic bag, this would translate to 480,000MT of maize grain saved from losses (and made available for trade and consumption) in Tanzania.
Furthermore, EAGC estimates that only 1.2 million out of Tanzania’s estimated 4.5 million maize farmers currently use hermetic bags. Current users of these bags are estimated to retain 6.25% more grain in terms of the value of grain compared to non-users. In addition, smallholder farmers using hermetic bags, albeit at a low level, reduce their PHL by 25% in Tanzania during the useful life-span of a hermetic bag, with the value of extra grain retained being more than sufficient to cover the cost of the hermetic bags used.
Therefore, to support farmers to leverage and maximize on hermetic storage technologies, development agencies are encouraged to continue supporting programs for stimulating the adoption of hermetic storage products through donor funding. What is more, multi-stakeholder partnerships will facilitate heightened capacity building for farmers on the importance of uptake on Hermetic Technologies for improved and increased food yield and production. Importantly, all grain value chain stakeholders are encouraged to support structured trading systems as they provide an incentive for quality and thus influence demand for hermetic storage.
By making hermetic bags more affordable, farmers can significantly reduce their losses, leading to increased food availability for domestic consumption and potential export. This, in turn, bolsters food security in food-insecure regions and generates more revenue for the country through export earnings.
Moreover, adopting hermetic storage contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with food wastage. It also conserves resources like land and water and promotes more efficient use of agricultural inputs.
Removing VAT on hermetic bags will help tackle the issue of aflatoxin contamination, a significant food safety concern associated with conventional storage methods. By encouraging the use of hermetic storage, we can protect consumers from health risks while preserving the quality and safety of our food supply.
