Author: Giza Mdoe

On the slopes of the Usambara ranges on the Eastern region of Tanzania, lays the Usambara forests sprawled across miles and miles of undulating old fold mountains.

Under this thick canopy, walks Juma, 45 yr old farmer and his daughter Halima, 15 and in secondary school.

As they regularly do, they have in hand several tools and containers, as they approach a clearing, we find out why they are here, and what the equipment in hand is for. The distant humming alerts us to the beehives up ahead and when Juma adorns his netted face guarding mask, transforming into some kind of astro-peasant, it is clear he is a beekeeper and it is time to harvest honey.

In Tanzania beekeeping is estimated to generate about USD 1.7 million each year from sales of honey and beeswax alone. And in rural Tanzania, it employs about 2 million farmers like Juma and …

Tanzania now owns 37 per cent of Williamson Diamonds Ltd, the single, largest diamond deposit to be in continuous production for over 70 consecutive years now.

Discovered in 1940, the mine boasts to be the world’s longest-running uninterrupted diamond mining operation. The open-pit mine is sprawled on over 140 hectares of land in Tanzania’s remote region of Mwadui.

Known scientifically as the kimberlite pipe, the mine is primarily owned by Petra Diamonds Ltd. Tanzania struck the deal early this month increasing its ownership by 12 per cent and cutting down Petra’s stake to 63 per cent from a high of 75 per cent.

This recent share split is the latest of moves signed by Tanzania with three other mining giants Faru Graphite Corporation, Nyati Mineral Sands Ltd and Sotta Mining Corporation Ltd.

According to a government media communiqué released by Prof Palamagamba Kabudi, who led the negation’s for the Tanzanian …

If there is a booming industry in Tanzania, it is the cement industry that has more than doubled production in under a decade.

As of 2011, Tanzania was producing 2.4Mt annually a figure that has shot up to 6.5Mt as of 2020. Compared to the previous year, the production volume of cement grew by 44.5 per cent and is associated with rising construction activity in the country.

Another marker of how well the industry is doing is the amount of investment the sector is getting annually. Consider the most recent buy out of Maweni Limestone Ltd by China’s Huaxin Cement.

Why this US$16 million buyout attests to the industry performance is the fact that once operational, it will be China’s first African entity producing cement on the continent instead of exporting.

Local demand is estimated to have clocked 5.9Mt and growing fast, the newly purchased plant by Huaxin Cement has …

The number of tourists arriving in Tanzania has increased an impressive 52% between January and November 2021 and with it, the country has enjoyed increased revenue collection of an even more impressive 69 per cent growth.

What has sparked this increase in tourists arrivals is, among other things, the country’s rigorous decimation of the Covid-19 uptake and the generally positive response of the public. Notably, as of 5^th December 2021, almost 2 million (1,699,523) vaccine doses have been administered.

As was the case elsewhere in the world outbreak of the pandemic fall in tourism arrivals severely affected the economy and more so the tourism and hospitality sectors.

To get a perspective of how the two sectors in Tanzania were hard hit, consider the fact that tourist arrivals in 2019 were slightly above 1.5 million yet this number dropped more than 50 per cent to a lowly 600,000 tourists in …

Tanzania hopes to plant an ambitious 1.5 million cashew nut trees annually across some 535,000 acres of land in a new revitalized effort to grow output and increase revenue from the protein-rich nut.

Tanzania is already one of Africa’s largest cashew growers coming third after Nigeria and Ivory Coast. It is the world’s eighth biggest producer and if all goes to plan, the country wants to move up the ranks.

In a recent press communiqué, the Cashew nut Board of Tanzania (CBT) released projections that show that Tanzania would produce one million tonnes of the nuts in the 2023/24 harvest season.

The plan is a multiple-year scheme that would see the country increase output year after year as follows; 600,000 tonnes for the 2021/22 farming season, 800,000 tonnes were to be produced in the 2022/23 farming season and the 1 million mark would be met in the following farming season.…

Tanzania’s national carrier, Air Tanzania Corporation Limited (ATCL) has signed a deal that will allow passengers across the region (and continent) to purchase tickets digitally via the CRDB Bank digital portal.

In this latest move, Air Tanzania has effectively beefed up its command of the East African skies couple with several interline deals and Air Tanzania is quickly becoming a formidable carrier to contend with.

In the same vein, Air Tanzania also recently launched direct flights to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Officially launched on November 26, the new route is but a predecessor spelling more ‘air control’ for the Tanzanian national carrier which this month again extends its wings to Bujumbura, the capital of Malawi.

When you add Ndola city, the business capital of Zambia and Lubumbashi, the commercial capital of the DRC, then you get a whiff of just how fast the Tanzanian national carrier is moving to take over …

To get their hands on Zimbabwe’s diamond, they conspire with the country’s top government officials and according to the leaked papers, the corruption runs deep, all the way to the very executive.

Makes you wonder, what is hurting the Zimbabwean people more, the US sanctions or the internal usurping of millions of dollars by corrupt government officials and their international partners in crime.

Zimbabwean diamonds go for as high as USD12 000 per carat. To get a picture of how much this racket is worth, consider report findings that have revealed that 350 000 carats of round diamonds worth an estimated USD140 million dollars have disappeared from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) repositories.…

There is need to rebrand Africa, to give it a better, truer image or in the words of the President for the African Development Bank (AfDB)) Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina to change the narrative on Africa to attract increased investments into the continent.

Granted the head of AfDB specified the Africa rebranding be specific for the USA but the idea stands true in general, the World needs to see Africa differently. The assertion comes ahead of the upcoming “Africa Investment Forum 2021.’

To be held this December (1-3), the event is one of the biggest flagship initiatives of the African Development Bank that is designed to attract billions of dollars in investment for strategic development projects across the continent.

“The annual forum has come to be an invaluable platform during which the Bank successfully attracts critical investment for the continent’s infrastructure, agriculture and health care system needs among others, especially …

South Africa, like many other countries in the world, still uses coal to power its economy, but now the country wants to become a low carbon economy and a climate-resilient society and to do so, it has announced a major U.S.$8.2 billion deal with Europe and the US.

This deal makes South Africa the only African country to have come out of COP26 with a tangible, actionable and financed plan to make it climate change resilient. The energy embattled country has signed the deal with all the big boys, the UK, the U.S., Germany, France and the European Union.

The pact is considered the first of its kind, where the so-called ‘Global North Countries’ are funding a ‘Global South Country’ to transition to renewable energy. Granted in this case there is the interest in coal since South Africa is heavily reliant on coal and so the deal is considered a …

Black gold runs the world and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni seems to have struck his long-coveted oil pipeline deal with Tanzania.

In the wake of his November state visit to Tanzania, the $3.5 billion deal is heading in the right direction.

However, this article is about another black gold, not crude oil, no, our topic of discourse is another prime foreign exchange earner for Uganda; the sweet aroma filled and much-coveted Robusta coffee, a $657 annual earner for Uganda.

Granted it’s but a fraction of what the oil deal will earn the country but coffee earnings represent much bigger financial inclusion for the Ugandan people than any oil deal ever will.

Here is why. Coffee farming directly employs over 1.7 million Ugandans who produce close to 6 million bags. Actually, Uganda produces 6% of global Robusta and 1% of the world’s Arabica coffee. Put together, coffee brings 18% of all …