DAR ES SALAAM — Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Saturday plans are afoot to make the country a leading palm oil exporter in the east African region.
Majaliwa made the remarks when he inspected a 500-hectare farm for producing palm oil seedlings in the east African nation’s western region of Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
“Tanzania wants to end imports of edible oil and become a leading exporter of edible oil,” said Majaliwa.
He said the country is spending about 470 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 203 million U.S. dollars) to import edible oils annually.
In 2019, Majaliwa said Tanzania had set aside 4.3 million U.S. dollars to boost cultivation of palm oil as part of its strategy to end importation of edible oils.