Buyers of cashew nuts could contribute up to Sh30 billion to the development of the crop in Tanzania if the goal of producing 280,000 tonnes of the nuts this year will be realised. Buyers agreed at a stakeholders’ meeting in Mtwara late last month to pay Sh110 per kilogramme of the cashew nuts they buy as their contribution to developing the crop ready for the 2021/22 trading season. According to the new rules and regulations governing the business, the pledged payment is over and above the Sh64.48 per kilogramme contributed as gunny packaging charges; Sh38 payable as storage charges, and $160 per tonne of nuts– or 15 percent – as an export levy payable to the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) on free-on-board (f.o.b.) value, whichever is the higher. For its part, the government will contribute Sh110 per kilogramme. Earlier on, this was paid by cashew nut farmers for the provision of subsidized agricultural inputs. This change in the obligation to pay the subsidy starts this trading season. The rules and conditions of cashew nut sales for the 2021/22 crop were released by the Cashewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT) shortly after the launching of the 2021/22 trading season, whose formal auctions are scheduled to commence on September 24. The CBT acting director general, Mr Francis Alfred, told The Citizen in a telephone interview that the arrangements for funding sustainability of cashew nuts production in the country were officially agreed to by the respective players in the business.