Ms Jacquiline Mkindi, Taha executive director, said the facility will be used to process and pack fresh produce ready for exports to overseas markets.

She could not give further details but said the decision on the packaging centre was among the issues agreed upon during Taha members’ meeting held here last Friday.

About 200 tonnes of fresh horticultural produce are air freighted each week to markets abroad, mainly Europe, through KIA, Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

A designated cargo aircraft, which started ferrying horticultural produce from KIA in December last year, has been carrying about 20 tonnes a week.

Taha members, most of who are based in Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions, sell flowers and other horticultural products worth about $50 million each year to markets abroad.

The whole horticulture industry exports, including those from non-Taha members, are estimated at $150m a year.

A five-year strategic plan unveiled by the association recently targets exports of $1bn horticultural products per year.

The association, formed in 2004, has 118 members. Most of them are commercial farmers growing flowers and fruits, but of late its membership has included vegetable growers as well as small holder farmers.

“We can see the industry transforming to greater heights. Next year, we will see vegetable exports to buyers overseas from Tanzania,” Ms Mkindi said in an interview.

She said the association would soon open two new zonal centres in Tanga’s Lushoto district and Iringa or Mbeya for the southern highlands.

Source: The Citizen (26 November 2009)

Negotiations ended 24 September with a meeting of the council of ministers from the region who will iron out the final details to be presented to the heads of state for signing in November 2010.

Source: New Vision

Just published today on allafrica.com and East African Business Week:

The Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA) and its newly formed growers-owned logistics firm, TAHA Fresh Handling Limited (TFHL), have announced the successful inaugural flight of a Boeing 747-200 cargo aircraft from Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).

In an interview with EABW recently, the Executive Director for TAHA, Jacqueline Mkindi said the flight took off on December 7, 2008 loaded with flowers, cuttings and vegetables from Tanzania to markets in Europe. “This is the first of what will be a weekly service from JRO to Ostend in Belgium operated by MK Airlines. The second flight also took off in the night of Saturday December 13, 2008 uplifting almost 30 tonnes of horticultural produce,” she said. She said the route by MK cargo plane has a viable entry to Amsterdam and other destinations including USA, UK and Asia. “It’s really competitive route, which starts from Belgium to South Africa en-route Entebbe and Kilimanjaro. Ostend in Belgium is a hub whereby cargo is lifted to other destinations,” she said.