PEMBA is a home to many spices including cloves, vanilla, cardamom cinnamon and black pepper which are attracting a number of people from outside the island wishing to get involved and gain knowledge about spice farming.

Zanzibar spices farmer Bakari Mataka Bakari harvesting cinnamon from his farm in Daya village, Mtambwe South ward: Photo: Felister Peter

Most of the residents in Pemba engage in spice agroforestry, especially women who are proudly using the generated income to buy food, schooling cost for children and purchase other necessities for their families.

Mohamed Ally Mmanga from Daya village in Mtambwe South ward, Wete District, Pemba North Region describes the forestry spice farming as an interesting activity which he has been practicing since 1992.

Mmanga owns an acre of vanilla farm in the village, but he also practices farming of other spices together with some other 28 villagers through a group—Organic Daya Cooperation.

“We produce one of the best spices in the world; the quality of our spices especially vanilla cannot be compared with spices produced in other countries; we practice organic farming to protect the health of consumers and conserve the environment,” said Mmanga in his explanations to a group of writers from the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) who visited the area with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

He, however, said fluctuating vanilla prices discourages farmers from continuing to expand their farms, calling for the government through the Zanzibar commission for tourism to assist them in adding value to the crop.

Mmanga raised concerns that farmers were fetching between 900,000/- and 1m/- per kilogram of vanilla, but the prices have dropped to 500,000/- per kg.

“Value addition would enable us to reap more; our appeal to the Zanzibar commission for tourism to provide us with a vanilla processing plant so that we can sell and export vanilla powder,” he remarked.

Bakari Mataka Bakari, from the same village, who has been engaging in cloves cultivation for several years, said that forestry spice farming has enabled him to build a better house and provide for the family.

According to him, although farmers will have to wait for between five and six years to start harvesting cloves; the market for the product is available through the government’s trading arm—Zanzibar State Trading Corporation (ZSTC).

ZSTC offers 14,000/-, 12,000/-and 10,000/-prices for the first, second and third grade cloves, respectively, he added.

“We also sell clove leaves at a price of between 200/- and 250/- per kilo,” said Bakari, adding, a single clove tree can last for over 70 years.

Amina Ally Mmanga who cultivates cinnamon said decisions to practice organic farming are meant to protect the inherited virgin land, but also ensure consumers get quality spices with a unique taste and smell.

“We don’t cut a single tree during farming because spices can also grow better in a forestry environment. Our products are tested at laboratories before export,” she added.

Khalid Kombo Khamis, Tourism Officer at the Ministry of Tourism and Heritage said they have been taking initiatives to educate farmers on the importance of preserving the environment because its destruction would also affect the tourism sector.

“We insist them to stick to organic farming because there are some tourists who only visit Pemba to learn about spice farming. The uniqueness of our spices has attracted buyers from various countries,” said the officer, adding that most farmers have transformed from subsistence to commercial farming.

Khamis said that most of the land in Pemba is virgin with an enormous percentage of green cover, whereas to protect it, the government has been insisting on organic farming especially for spices cultivation because it is practiced in the forest.

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