Tanzania led by the Livestock and Fisheries minister Mr. Luhaga Mpina, laid a foundation stone for the construction of a US $5.5m meat processing plant dubbed Tan choice, on its Coastal region of Soga.
Upon completion the factory is expected to be the largest in both East and Central Africa. In it at least 14, 000 cattle shall be slaughtered and processed every single day without any space difficulties.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Mpina said that the Tanzanian Government is dogged to protect local manufacturers not forgetting investors by overseeing and taking strict measures and control of import of products associated to livestock through an initiative named ‘Operation Nzagamba’.
Operation Nzagamba
Operation Nzagamba is an initiative realized through the partnership of the states Police Department, Intelligence and Security Department, National Environmental Management Council and the President’s office, embodied by Regional Administration and Local Governments.
The operation is meant to bring transparency in the agro processing sector as well as seeing in to it that the Tanzanian Government does not lose revenue due to imported substandard milk, meat and beef products which have dominated the market.
Not long ago, the government through operation Nzagamba destroyed from various supermarkets in the country, eight mega grams of toxic pork and meat that illegally entered the country in addition to outdated milk, all of which posed a danger to the consumers or other Tanzanian citizens.
Need for meat processing plants in Tanzania
Tanzania has one of the largest livestock populations in Africa with 13.5 million head of cattle, 5.5 million goats, 3.6 million sheep, 0.4 million pigs and 23.2 million chickens, according to statistics by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. But the country does not have as many meat processing plants.
In that case the Tanzanian Government has been pushing the idea of constructing meat processing factories in the country, some of which have already been established and others are on the pipeline. Mr. Mpina made known the plans of the government to construct more in Longindo, Morogoro, Chato and Ruvu. The Tan choice plant is set to be complete in September.
