DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 13 -- GRAPE farmers here have blamed the government for ignoring the crop, despite it being one of the major ingredients of winemaking in the country.
They said that unlike other commercial crops such as tea, cotton, coffee, and cashew, grape cultivation and marketing is not being taught in either Primary Schools or at Tertiary institutions, forcing its farmers to stick to traditional practices, which limit their yields.
A well-integrated and professionally manned hectare of grape field usually produces an average of 15 tonnes of eaten fresh as table grapes, or used for making wine, jam, juice, jelly, seed extract and vinegar as well as seed oil.
Commenting, Paul Mwanga a grape farmer in Makutopora said that despite t...