Tanzania government has rejected cashew nut price offers from 13 buyers and offered to buy the nuts from farmers located in the country’s southern region.
President John Magufuli on Monday deployed the army to buy and collect all cashew nuts from farmers after the buyers failed to up their offers as directed by Magufuli over the weekend.
“If private buyers fails to respond to the government and tell us how many tonnes they will buy by Monday, the government will buy all cashew nuts and we have the money for it,” he said.
Two ministers lost their jobs over the issue, Minister of Agriculture Charles Tizeba and his trade counterpart Charles Mwijage were dropped from their posts, the presidency said late on Saturday.
On Saturday, Magufuli visited a military unit and inspected 75 vehicles that will be used by the government to facilitate the purchasing of cashew nuts in the country should private buyers fail to take up the crop at the government prescribed price of 3,000 shillings ($1.31) per kilo.
