<p></p><p>The government has reaffirmed its commitment to end exporting raw cashew nuts, after signing agreement with three institutions to construct three processing factories for the cash crop in three regions.Acting Cashew nut Board of Tanzania (CBT) Chairperson, Mr Mudhihir Mudhihir, said in Dar es Salaam that each factory will be able to process 10,000 tonnes of cashew nuts per year.“Our long term plan is to have as many cashew nut processing factories as possible to ensure the cash crop is processed in the country,” said the CBT acting chairperson, shortly after signing the agreement with Ardhi University, University of Dar es Salaam Business School and Cashew nut Industry Development Trust Fund (CIDTF). <br></p> <p>Mr Mudhihir noted that the government also plans to support small-scale processing industries to improve its production to ensure the country does not resort to exporting raw cashews.CIDTF Board of Trustees Chairman, Mr Athumani Nkinde, pointed out that the three factories will be built in Mtwara, Tunduru in Ruvuma and Mkuranga in Coast Region and that CIDTF has earmarked 6bn/- to start the project.“CIDTF has allocated 2bn/- for each factory in Phase I of the project. The construction will start after three months,” he said.Mr Nkinde said under the agreement Ardhi University (ARU) has been tasked to design the factories, while University of Dar es Salaam Business School (UDBS) has been tasked to prepare the business plan of the factories. <br></p> <p>UDBS Dean, Dr Ulingeta Mbamba, said that the school will prepare the business plan, which will cope with the current economic change, adding that it was vital to add value to cashew nuts for farmers to benefit from the cashew crop.“We are going to prepare a practicable business plan to enable the country benefit from the cash crop,” promised the UDBS Dean.ARU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Planning, Finance and Adminstration), Professor Gabriel Kassenga, said that the ARU will complete the exercise to design the three factories in time and that the higher learning institution will strive to design state-of-the-art factories.<br></p><p></p>