Day: March 16, 2022

Chocolate lovers in Basel, Switzerland, can be forgiven for taking a long time in the supermarket sweet aisle deciding which chocolate to buy, but thousands of miles away, smallholder farmers in Tanzania's southern highlands who work tirelessly to grow cocoa – a key ingredient in the chocolate industry – have never tasted it.

“I don’t know how it tastes, and quite honestly, I don’t even know what it looks like,” said 65-year-old Josina Mwaibale, a farmer in a remote village in Kyela district, as she cracked open a cocoa pod to scoop out its beans.

The chocolate bars on Swiss supermarket shelves are inextricably linked to the plight of farmers in this impoverished village, who struggle to make ends meet despite striking “gold”.

“I work so hard, but I don’t get much of the profit,” Mwaibale lamented.

Multibillion-dollar industry

While chocolate makers are fully aware that the multibillion-dollar industry requires a constant supply of cocoa, local farmers in Kyela do not always reap the rewards of their labor.

However, because the crop is essential in the global chocolate industry, farmers in the district are making a renewed push to boost yields to earn greater profits.

Although the $130 billion chocolate industry is dependent on smallholder farmers, the majority of them are unaware of their active role.

Mwaibale has spent years caring for a cocoa farm in the scorching sun. Despite her efforts, she only earns about 500,000 Tanzanian shillings (some $217) per year.

“The cost of living is too high. This money is not enough to sustain life,” she told Anadolu Agency.

Wafting smell

Rungwe and Kyela districts in Tanzania’s southern highlands grow 90% of the cocoa produced in the country. During the harvest season in March, visitors to the orchids are often greeted by the aroma of drying cocoa wafting in the air.

For Edson Kikwa, a 49-year-old cocoa farmer in Ntebela village in Kyela, this is one of the busiest times of the year.

Armed with a sharp machete, Kikwa briskly chops a ripe yellow pod, scooping out white pulpy beans and leaving them to dry on pieces of canvas spread out on the ground.

But Kikwa, who earns roughly 1,000,000 Tanzanian shillings (about $434) a year from the sale of his cocoa, has never tasted chocolate, either.

The cocoa industry supports around 100,000 people, most of whom live in Rungwe and Kyela districts, where farmers describe the conditions for growing it as perfect.

In Ntebela village, east of Kyela, where Kikwa lives with his wife and six children, cocoa production has helped improve the livelihoods of ordinary people by contributing more to household incomes than any other crop.

“It takes a lot of work to tend the trees and turn bitter cacao into something delicious,” Kikwa explained.

Tanzania exports about 6,500 metric tons of cocoa beans every year, earning roughly $228 million, according to government data.

Despite giving an attractive financial dividend to the nation, chocolate is not easy to find in villages in Kyela, and when it is, local farmers do not dare to buy it because it is too expensive for them.

At Ikolo village in Kyela district, Victoria Kazungu crouches over a large pile of dried cocoa. She sifts through the pods to select those of the highest quality.

Although Kazungu contributes a large share of cocoa labor on the farm, such as planting, pruning, and harvesting, she does not directly enjoy the fruits of her labor because her husband handles all financial matters.

“I don’t see it much of a problem because he’s my second half,” she remarked.

Across Ikolo village, cocoa trees spread up like weeds, sprouting up from the red-clay soil whenever the beans are dropped.

During the main cocoa season in Ikolo, which begins in early March, machete-wielding farmers pick ripe yellow pods the size of rugby balls off cocoa trees, scoop out the white pulpy beans, and place them on canvas mats to dry.

As the beans ferment and darken, the aroma of cocoa wafts through the air.

Bagged in sacks, the beans are then sold to middlemen who transport them to clearing warehouses or processing factories where they are ready to be exported.

However, for most farmers, the taste of chocolate, no matter how delicious, remains a faraway fantasy.

“I would love to eat the final product of cocoa one day,” said Kazungu.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Yama Nabi, son of Haji Daoud Nabi, one of the victims of a terror attack targeting two mosques in New Zealand, continues to voice his longing for his father.

On March 15, 2019, Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, killed 51 Muslim worshippers and injured 40 more at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole last year in the first such ruling ever handed down in the island nation.

Haji Daoud Nabi appeared in the terrorist's live stream of the attack, unknowingly welcoming him into the mosque with the words: "Hello, brother."

He was among the first to be killed.

On Wednesday, activists and victims' family members attended a symposium organized by a Turkish non-governmental organization and university under the auspices of the country's Culture and Tourism Ministry to honor the victims, including Nabi.

At the event, titled "Hello Brother: World Peace Symposium" and held in the capital Ankara, his son recounted to Anadolu Agency what happened on the day of the terror attack.

He was driving in his car with his daughter when the attack erupted. After hearing the gunshots, he pulled over and told his daughter to stay in the vehicle, he said.

Trying to discern where the shots were coming from, son Nabi said when he got the news of the attack on the mosque, he attempted to reach his father by phone, but could not.

When he got to the mosque and asked for his father, the community said his father was there when the attack took place, but that they later found his father's body. "My father was a helper for his son, for the Muslim community, he was a leader, a hero."

I miss him so much

"I missed him so much. My father was a hero," said Nabi, noting that three years had passed since the incident took place.

Expressing how difficult it was to lose his father for his family, he underlined that even in Haji Daoud Nabi's last words, he represented Islam and peace.

Without unity, Muslims are weak

Journalist Lauren Booth, Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's sister-in-law, who converted to Islam, said she believes the family of Haji Daoud Nabi had yet to heal and was still suffering from the crisis and shock of the attack.

Referring to the increasing Islamophobia in the US and Europe, Lauren said that "without unity, Muslims are weak."

She underlined that young people who know Islam and live in cities like Paris, London, and New York would play the greatest role against Islamophobia.

The Hello Brother: World Peace Symposium was organized by the International Knowledge and Perception Association and Haci Bayram Veli University in Ankara.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan in Istanbul

Source: Anadolu Agency

Wednesday’s Moscow meeting of the top Turkish and Russian diplomats shows that more such contacts are needed, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

After talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Lavrov told a joint news conference: "Today's talks confirmed that we need to meet often and regularly exchange views on the key issues of our bilateral agenda, but first of all about the international situation, which has been experiencing deep changes.”

Lavrov said he and Cavusoglu had assessed the political dialogue and bilateral ties of Russia and Turkiye, including between presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and discussed preparations for a new meeting of the countries’ High-Level Cooperation Council.

Ties between Russia and Turkiye have growing importance for maintaining regional and global stability, and both countries are known for their ability to find optimal solutions to problems based on mutual benefit and a balance of interests, he said.

Turning to economic ties, he said: "There are positive shifts in the development of trade and economic ties, as compared to 2020, the trade turnover rose almost 60% last year to $33 billion. I’m sure that this is far from the limit, and today we discussed steps that would allow us to increase these numbers.”

On energy cooperation, Lavrov said the TurkStream gas pipeline strengthens the energy security not only of Turkiye but also of states of Southern Europe.

Turkiye's first nuclear power plant, the Russian-built Akkuyu, is planned to open by the 2023 centennial of the Turkish Republic, said Lavrov, adding: “Completion of the project will provide Turkish customers with a reliable source of energy.”

Lavrov said he explained to Cavusoglu that Russia's goal in Ukraine is to protect the residents of Donbas from "a direct military threat" from Kyiv, and the demilitarization and “denazification” of Ukraine so that all ethnic groups can live peacefully in Ukraine.

Donbas in Eastern Ukraine has a large ethnic Russian population, but Ukraine has denied the existence of any military threat.

“Ankara is following a pragmatic line, is promoting a balanced approach” on the Ukraine issue, said Lavrov, adding that it “did not join in anti-Russian sanctions.”

Russian-Turkish joint efforts help to maintain the cease-fire in Syria, Lybia, and Nagorno-Karabakh, said Lavrov.

He added that he welcomes talks on normalization between Turkiye and Armenia.

Lavrov said he did not speak with Cavusoglu about new Russian-Ukrainian meetings at the ministerial and presidential levels, as such meetings need to have solid preparation.

Humanitarian cease-fire in Ukraine, evacuation priorities for Turkiye

Cavusoglu, for his part, said that Turkiye's "priority" is the evacuation of its nationals and civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, along with an "urgent" humanitarian cease-fire.

Saying that Turkiye has had a "clear stance" since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, he said Ankara is working to achieve a permanent humanitarian cease-fire.

Such a cease-fire is a "must" to evacuate civilians from Mariupol due to "high risk" in the area, he said.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow, and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.

At least 691 civilians have been killed and 1,143 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

More than 3 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries, according to the UN.

Source: Anadolu Agency