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’Cross-border cereal smuggling controlled’
2006-11-08 09:03:24
By Adam Ihucha, Arusha
The sealing of unauthorized cross-border points, locally known as panya routes used for smuggling goods in Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions has drastically brought down the market prices of maize.
Arusha Regional Police Commander Basilio Matei has attributed the success to the cooperation between the police and communities along the border.
”We have teamed up with fellow law enforcers in Kilimanajro, the local militia and communities a long the border and agreed to share valid information regarding unusual activities across the border and in the neighbourhood, such as smuggling of grain,” said Matei.
A survey conducted in Arusha established that a bag of maize, previously selling at between 25,000/- and 30,000/- by August, has dropped by half.
It is currently going for between 12,000/- and 15,000/- in Arusha and Moshi markets.
At the same time, the survey also established that dealers in cereals previously made astronomical profits from the illegal cross-border trade in grains.
The businessmen exploited farmers on one hand and denied the government revenue on the other.
The police chief said Arusha regional authorities were committed to the initiative to stop the cross-border smuggling of maize.
”An open market has been established in Longido where farmers and traders from Kenya and elsewhere converge to transact business,” Matei said.
However, interviewed cereal dealers in the region have expressed concern on low prices offered to farmers by the local traders.
”Let the National Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) dispatch its officials to see for themselves maize stockpiled in many homesteads, which have no money to meet their basic needs,’’ said a businessman.
Maendeleo Meidimi, a prominent Arusha-based cereal dealer said although control measures taken seem impressive on the part of the government, the farmers were the losers in the entire circus.
”Let SGR come to our rescue because it is better to have the surplus sold instead of blocking business avenues, to the detriment of farmers,” Meidimi.
On her part Scola Moshi, a farmer hailed the move by authorities to ban cross-border smuggling of maize, saying unless such corrective measures are put in place, the same people selling their crop to Kenya at a throw away price would later on face acute shortage of food.
Willy Massawe, a resident of Moshi and a seasoned cereal dealer said for the past two weeks, a tonne of maize in Nairobi fetched USD199 while in Dar-es-Salaam, it attracted USD 159 , and in Kampala it was sold for USD 148.
Independent sources have it that the Nairobi market anticipated to import at least 23,000 tonnes of maize from Dar-es-Salaam this year, but the control has dashed hopes of hitting the mark.
Due to long spells of drought, the East African region has in the past faced food shortages requiring governments to import cereals to offset the scarcity.
Available records indicate that Tanzania had earmarked a total of 5.3bn/- for food security in the country. Food consumption is expected to hit 9.73 million tonnes in the fiscal year 2006/2007.
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