ATCL’S DIRECT CARGO FLIGHT TO CHINA: A game changer for local avocado exporters

SATURDAY February 1, 2025

By Adam Ihucha

The Tranquility News Correspondent, Tanzania

A pioneer state-owned cargo direct flight to Guangzhou is poised to become a game changer to the multi-million-dollar horticultural industry in Tanzania, as players say it offers a strategic connectivity to a lucrative market of China.

The Air Tanzania recently deployed its maiden acquired Boeing 767-300F freighter plane to Guangzhou, China, coinciding with the China’s move to allow Tanzanian avocado to access its annual $174 million market.

Capable of flying 3,255 nautical miles (6,028 km) without refueling and carrying a maximum revenue payload of 54 metric tonnes, the Boeing 767 freighter makes the perfect aircraft for Air Tanzania, whose mission is to grow the Tanzania’s commerce by offering fastest and reliable model of logistics.

Chairperson of a Tanzania’s sole farmers owned Logistics Company, TAHA Fresh Handling Ltd, Dr Jacqueline Mkindi, says the cargo aircraft offers exporters with alternative fastest and most reliable connectivity to unconventional, but lucrative markets of China.

“The cargo flight, opens up enormous opportunities for horticultural crops and perishables exporters to grow their businesses, as it connects them with nontraditional, but competitive market of China,” she explains.

“We are grateful to see Guangzhou becomes a key route, it is a strategic distribution hub of fruits and vegetables across China,” Dr Mkindi, who is an agri-business specialist, adds.

The pundit in horticultural industry encourages Tanzanian exporters to harness this market potential and take advantage of competitive rate and cargo space offered by the Boeing 767 freighter aircraft.

In December 2024, Air Tanzania secured authorisation from China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) to commence direct flights from Dar es Salaam to Guangzhou, providing a significant boost for Tanzania’s avocado exporters.

This approval followed a historic shipment of Tanzanian organic avocados to China on November 18, 2024—two critical developments that experts anticipate will yield significant financial benefits for farmers and exporters.

“The direct flights reduce transport times and ensure fresh avocados reach Chinese consumers promptly, putting both Tanzania and China in a favourable position,” Dr Mkindi explains.

Previously, sea transport of 24 metric tonnes of Hass avocados took 22 days to reach Hong Kong from Mombasa. The new direct flight cuts this duration to just one day, significantly enhancing delivery speed and product quality.

Dr Mkindi also expresses gratitude towards development partners such as TradeMark Africa (TMA) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for their assistance in improving market access for Tanzanian farmers.

She says the route virtually complements the initiatives of the Tanzania President, Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, of unlocking the Chinese markets for Tanzanian-grown avocado, in her deliberate efforts to transform the country’s horticultural industry into a real ‘green gold’ and to generate quick money for boosting the national foreign currency reserve.

Indeed, the horticultural farmers and exporters in the country are whetting their appetites for windfall incomes, thanks to the government for unlocking the world’s second-most populous Chinese market for Tanzania’s grown avocado.

Dr Mkindi, who doubles as the CEO of the champion of Tanzania horticultural industry – TAHA, recalls saying China allowing local traders to access its market for the ‘butter fruit’ in 2024 was a huge boost, as it opened doors for a critical mass of smallholder farmers to reach international consumers instead of crowding the domestic and tradition markets alone.

The direct flights reduce transport times and ensure fresh avocados reach Chinese consumers promptly, putting both Tanzania and China in a favourable position,” Dr Jacqueline Mkindi, the Chairperson of a Tanzania’s sole farmers owned Logistics company, TAHA Fresh Handling Ltd.

She attributes the courtesy of the recent state visit of Dr Samia to China, as a key milestone that sees Beijing unlocking the $174 million worth of avocado market.

Indeed, the President held talks with her Chinese host, President Xi Jinping, during her maiden state visit to China, culminating into Tanzania and China inking a protocol on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures for the avocado from Tanzania to access the Sino niche market.

“I’m so thankful and proud of our President, Dr Samia, for her finest diplomatic traits that see the lucrative avocado market of the 1.4 billion population nation opened after four years of our struggles,” Dr Mkindi says.

Truly, the first attempt to open the Chinese sprawling market started way back in 2018 when TAHA uncovered its potential, courting the government to use its diplomatic means in a bid to unlock the roomy market for local avocados to access it.

Dr Mkindi says the President’s move means a boost to the national strategy that intends to enhance horticultural export value to $2 billion per annum come 2030, up from the nearly $800 million at the moment, thus creating employment to youth and women along the value chain.

Formal statistics indicate that China imported 59.61 million metric tonnes worth $149 million in 2021, thanks to the Chinese appetite for avocados.

China’s avocado import value is billed to grow to $174 million per annum by 2026, offering Tanzania an enormous opportunity for drastically boosting its export of the butter fruit as well as other horticultural produces.

Dr Mkindi sees the opening of the Chinese market spurring avocado production in Tanzania by both small and large-scale farmers and boosting incomes at household level as well as increasing investment in agro-processingΩ