The role of Tanzania’s dry beans industry in the agribusiness sector

IF there is a list of valuable and vibrant agricultural products that are taken lightly then beans ought to be at the top.

At an annual production of 1.2 million tonnes, Tanzania leads the continent and is the leading supplier of the same to her neighbouring countries, not to mention countries in the southern part of Africa and overseas.

Last time global records were made public, Tanzania scooped the seventh position in common beans’ production. Nutritionally speaking, beans are rich in protein.

Proteins’ functions in a human body includes; repairment and building of body tissues, allowing metabolic reactions to take place, coordinating bodily functions as well as maintaining proper pH and fluid balance.

Other components are; fat, carbs, fiber, iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamins and phosphorous.

Beans and animal meat are somewhat competing products, however, whereas animal meat have proteins but contains cholesterols dangerous for causing heart complications, beans have proteins without harmful cholesterols.

With antioxidants that fights the effects of free radicals that damages chemicals that the body produces during metabolism, beans give you an assurance of a healthy body.

Cancer is slowly becoming the biggest nightmare in the world now, unfortunately few people understands that beans have the ability to act as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents which, according to a number of studies, is an important attribute to fight intestinal cancer as well as slowing the growth of colorectal cancer by preventing cancer cells from multiplying.

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The above-mentioned nutritional coupled with economic benefits are behind many people’s desires to consume them. According to the latest data from International Trade Centre, beans from Tanzania have the export potential of 4.4 billion US dollars that is unrealised.

United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Vietnam, China, Switzerland and Japan alone have an unrealised ability to import 2.4 billion US dollars’ worth of kidney beans from Tanzania. In other words, our comparatively “huge” ability to produce has not met the world’s demand threshold. Beans can be grown in lownitrogen soils without additional fertiliser.

This is due to her ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, which plants can’t access, into a form that plants can use. With ever-shrinking size of land beans provides the best option because they do allow intercropping farming system.

That is, one can farm beans with other crops, say, maize and reap big from both of them because they are not mutually exclusive products. Currently, per capita consumption of beans is around 14 kilogrammes.

Besides, given the increasing population and spreading of health education the level of consumption internally will rise which will increase pressure on producers to do the most. This can also be observed from another angle, while prices of other pulses and probably other products are taking the see-saw mode, that is, there are times that have been declining, one can hardly remember when did dry beans’ prices went south.

This is enough to encourage anyone doing other activity apart from farming beans to take this as a potential area venture. Notwithstanding, there has been sort of market glut of beans in the country. A number of traders cries, at times, of inability to find markets.

Unlike cashew and other export-oriented crops, beans value chain doesn’t depend so much of the few big multinational corporations, beans market structure is dominated by small holder producers and small-scale traders.

This usually comes with information disadvantages. Big corporations invest so heavily in market information gathering something which small traders hardly affords.

These few challenges should not make one lose focus of how promising beans subsector is. Some serious investments in production and market information generation needs to be actualised to make use of the potential that we have as a country.

And this is the benefit of being ahead of time.