|
Tanzania loses 8bn/- in hides revenue
2007-07-08 09:58:43
By Peter Mwangu
Tanzania lost over 8bn/- revenue in the world market last year as a result of poor collection mechanisms, quality and inappropriate skin and hides treatment.
The loss was revealed by Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) official Richard Sillo in an interview at his office at the Leather Association of Tanzania (LAT) headquarters Dar es Salaam.
Sillo said that the hide and skin production in the country is estimated to be 2.7m pieces annually against actual collection of only 1.6m of low quality pieces compared to the same products in Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan.
He said Tanzania earned about 50bn/- from hides and skins of wild and domestic animals in spite of their poor quality, indicating that if the quality was improved more revenue could have been realized.
``At the world market, hides and skins from countries like Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Somalia sell like hot cakes compared to Tanzania despite being ranked third in the continent after Ethiopia and Sudan in terms of the number of cattle we own,`` he posed.
A piece of skin or hide from Rwanda is sold at the equivalent price of 20,000/- and at 12,000/- from Somalia but only at 8000/- from Tanzania in the international market, due to improper slaughtering, poor pegging during drying and notorious animal branding by hot iron.
``Animal branding using red hot metal markers is the most destructive method, since marks are placed on crucial points of the hides and skin,`` he added, urging livestock keepers to utilize smaller marks on less important areas.
|
