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Tanzanians lose a lot from low paprika production
2006-11-07 09:54:47
By Ludger Kasumuni
Reports that our country has huge potential for Paprika farming to earn enough significant shares of national foreign exchanges has prompted me to do more research on how this non-traditional crop is a friend of environment.
I am calling upon readers of this column to share with me on how to mobilise our youth to use our huge arable land in Paprika farming, because it has been proved that it can be a viable tool for poverty reduction and conservation of natural environment.
For those of you who are fond of listening to Bongo beats and watching movies in various TV stations, I think you better spend a little time today to read this column and air your views on how Tanzanians living in both urban and rural areas can start embarking on self-employment projects for Paprika farming.
I am not an agronomy expert, but I have keen interest in knowing more about the significance of Paprika farming in terms of wealth creation and conservation of ecology.
Everyone knows that when we are talking about the link between the environment and wealth, in fact we are also talking on how one can embark on a project which normally can kill two birds with a single stone.
And this is nothing but Paprika farming project.
Before engaging much on talk shop, I think it is important to let people know what Paprika is.
I have widely read various documents and got acquainted with the biological, environmental and economic significance of Paprika farming.
The crop is principally used as an ingredient in a broad variety of dishes throughout the world. The crop, pimentón, in Spain, and colorau in Portugal is used to flavour and colour rice, stews, and soups, such as goulash.
In Kiswahili vernacular it is called ”Pilipili Mbuzi”, but for many years people have not been growing it on large scale for commercial purposes.
In Spain, Germany, Hungary, Turkey and Portugal, it is also used in the preparation of sausages and at times mixed with meat and other spices. Olives are also commonly stuffed with minced portions of the crop.
It is at the same time smoked and added to give additional flavour just like any other spice and it is rarely eaten in isolation.
Because of its nutritional value, experts have established that it also has the highest content of vitamin c, and very essential in the vitamin’s deficiency.
The vitamin is of value to human health in terms of maintaining high body immunity for human survival.
The spice is made of capsicum including the bell peppers and its vitamin C content is 150–250 mg/100 g as researchers say.
I have read one scientific journal which says that in 1932, the Hungarian scientist Albert Szent-Györgyi, using Vitamin C from a red pepper, proved that scurvy was caused by Vitamin C deficiency.
This implies that if you regularly consume food rich in the spice, you would in fact be curing scurvy.
My colleagues who read this column must also bear in mind that paprika has high commercial value globally.
Commercial food manufacturers use paprika in cheese, processed meat, tomato sauce, chili powder and soup, all with the main intention of colouring the foodstuffs.
The journals on paprika farming say that if a food item is coloured red, orange or reddish brown and the label lists ’Natural Colour’, it is likely to be the spice.
The documents also say that it has high medicinal properties because it has more than seven times as much vitamin C as oranges.
Research and experts say that it is an excellent source of beta-carotene, a biological device which converts into the body to be vitamin A.
Already we are being told that the country has conducive climate that allows large scale production of the spice, a cash crop in high demand on the world market.
A senior officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Judith Kitivo recently confirmed that studies have proved that paprika can grow well under temperatures between 24 and 35 degrees Centigrade.
Reliable sources also are informing us that Coastal areas, the hinterland of Tanzania, apart from the cool mountainous peaks and the central part of the country, are ideal places for the production of the crop.
Now coming to the link between the spice and environmental conservation, experts are telling us that since paprika is a product of horticulture, it grows well under the natural ecosystems characterised by natural growth of fauna and flora.
You have to bear in mind that paprika farms require constant supply of water and trees surrounding the farms to provide constant shedding.
This unique feature is the one which drives paprika farmers to conserve natural environment automatically.
Report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security says that although paprika has huge market abroad, our country is yet to expand production from the current decimal level.
At the moment, the report says successful production of the crop has been recorded in Rukwa, Tabora, Tanga especially in Muheza and Korogwe districts, Coast Region especially in Mpiji Bagamoyo and some parts of Arusha.
In fact it is amazing that local farmers are not taking advantage of the favourable farming conditions and the available market potential for paprika growth.
Last September, during his routine monthly address to the nation, President Jakaya Kikwete, hinted that Spain was ready to import over 40 million tonnes of the crop.
Available information shows that paprika is one of the non-traditional crops introduced in Tanzania some six years ago.
Hardly 200 tonnes of the crop is produced in the country annually, the reports analyses adding and stressing that it can be one of the best weapon of fighting poverty.
Production of the crop has remained under contract farming and companies buying the spice from the small scale producers are Tanzania Spices Ltd, a Spanish company and Olera Company from Italy.
The two foreign companies are also being said to be contracting local farmers to grow the crop locally.
According to the report, there is only one NGO, the Tanzania Youth Social, Employment and Development (TAYOSEDA), dealing with contracting the growing of paprika, but again it is under the auspices of Tanzania Spices Ltd.
ludgermadodi@hotmail.com
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