<p>CASHEW nut growers will have all their stocked produce cleared and hauled to buyers before the end of this month, the government assured in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Obtaining the market for all cashew nuts means the government will pay all farmers from whom it directly collected the cash crop during the last season. </p><p>"By October 21, all stocks of cashew nuts will have been completely cleared, leaving the warehouses empty to store new harvest for the next season and all farmers will be paid," Government's Chief Spokesperson Dr Hassan Abbasi said in Dar es Salaam yesterday.</p> <p>He added: "This will nowallay fears among farmers over the fate of their produce in the coming season amid rumours that the cashew nuts that the government had collected last season have not secured market."</p> <p>Dr Abbasi stated that details over who bought the cashew nuts and the countries to which the produce will be exported will be released later.</p> <p>In October last year, President John Magufuli ordered procurement of all the cash crop directly from farmers at 3,300/- per kilogramme by the government through the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB).</p> <p>The decision came after the crop dealers failed to work on the presidential directive to buy the crop at a minimum 3,000/- per kilo against the Cashewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT) recommended 1,550/-.</p> <p>President Magufuli insisted that the produce good prices will improve the welfare of farmers and enable them to buy farm inputs and boost productivity.</p> <p>According to Dr Abbasi, the government had by last month, paid over 400,000 cashew nut farmers and TADB continues payments to the remaining farmers. His statement on the market progress was part of his yesterday's highlights on various achievements that the government has recorded during the last four years.</p> <p>In the next one month, President John Magufuli will be marking four years in power and the government spokesperson was reporting on the assessment of implementation of the pledges he made during 2015 election campaigns.</p> <p>He said the government was doing a great job to implement development projects-water, electricity and transport, among others.</p> <p>He said Julius Nyerere Hydropower Power is the flagship power project that the government is executing to increase the country's power generation capacity and lower power tariffs.</p> <p>Dr Abbasi said so far the government has disbursed over 1tri/- for the over 6tri/- project. He stated that on water sector, the government pledged to improve water availability in rural areas from 46 to 85 per cent by 2020 as well as in urban areas from 65 to 95 per cent.</p> So far, water availability has improved in rural areas to 65 per cent. Several water projects were under implementation, said Dr Abbasi, noting that 289 projects and 89,000 water stations in rural areas were completed by September, costing 336bn/-. At least 44,000 water stations are still under construction. www<br><p></p>