<p> </p><div>The Small Industries Development Organisations (Sido) in Lindi Region has come up with a small-scale cashew nut shelling machine in a move to help farmers in the South Eastern regions to add value to their crop. In an exclusive interview with The Guardian recently in Lindi Region, Sido Lindi workshop manager Abdul Ndemanga said small-scale cashewnut shelling machine will ensure farmers sell processed cashew and help them to improve the price as well as their livelihoods. <p>Ndemanga also said that the machine is capable of processing 150 kgs per day compared to the manual work that can see farmers process only 15 kgs a day. “Small-scale cashewnut shelling machines are not expensive at all, we have decided to put affordable price (7m/-) for small scale farmers to buy, and we also advise farmers to purchase it as a group so as to make it easier for them to acquire the tool,” he said.</p> <p>Sido recently conducted two sessions of training programmes on value addition of cashew nuts products for Lindi farmers in which 82 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) dealing in cashew nuts processing attended. The main objective was to implement One District One Product (ODOP) strategy intended to use rural based resources in the establishment of industries. </p><p>The training involved participants from Rural and Urban Liwale and Nachingwea districts. Through the training, the participants were able to acquire various skills on producing various products from cashew nuts such as processed cashew nuts, cashew apple juice, cashew apple wine, Cashew apple salad, cashew apple jam and cashew shell liquid. </p><p>The training was very relevant as 96 percent of the cashew nuts from Liwale and Nachingwea districts are sold without adding value and 99 percent of the cashew apple and other cashew byproducts are wasted due to lack of skills on value addition. In both training, invited representatives from the Local Government Authorities (LGAs) promised to extend cooperation with the participants in the search of appropriate technology from Sido and suitable premises for establishment of small processing clusters. </p><p>The participants were advised to be trustworthy to their customers by producing high quality products that would consequently improve their health and livelihood. Sido was established in October 1973 as a parastatal organisation under now Ministry of Trade, Industry and Marketing with the objective to develop the small industry sector in the country. </p><p> </p> <h1><br></h1> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div> <br><p></p>