Does Tanzania have a potential in the sunflower oil sector?
Tanzania has great potential in the sunflower oil seeds sector, which can be scaled-up as one of its key sectors for industrial development.
What type of oil is produced in Tanzania?
Oil seed production in Tanzania mainly focuses on ground nuts (40%), sunflower (36%), sesame (15%), cotton (8%) and palm oil (1%). More than half of vegetable oil consumed in Tabora and Tanzania as a whole is imported due to insufficient domestic production. The population of western Tanzania is approximtely 5.8 million in 2012.
Why is Tanzania transforming the sunflower industry?
These tax and tariff changes have put Tanzania on the path to transforming the entire sector by prompting investors to pursue hybrid seed production, processing and other investments in the sunflower space. Dalberg was able to draw on its coalition of funders to obtain the private investment needed for essential technologies.
Which country produces the most sunflower oil?
With an annual output of around 350,000 tons of sunflower oilseeds, corresponding to about 90,000 tons of oil, Tanzania is one of the top ten sunflower oilseed producers in the world. Sunflowers are grown all over the country, mostly by small-scale farmers.
Where does sunflower oil come from?
Currently sunflower oil makes about 13% of the world edible oil production. Sunflower was introduced in Tanzania during colonial times and it was found to grow in almost all parts of the country. Interestingly, the crop grows well in the dry weather conditions of the Central Corridor compared to other crops like maize and wheat.
How much sunflower oil is produced a year?
While the production of sunflower oil seeds varying between 75,000 to 100,000 tons from year 2001 to 2005, it increased in the last two seasons dramatically to more than 350,000 tons since 2006 (Figure 1).