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  • Does Tanzania have a potential in the sunflower oil sector?
  • Tanzania has great potential in the sunflower oil seeds sector, which can be scaled-up as one of its key sectors for industrial development.
  • Where does sunflower oil come from?
  • Currently sunflower oil makes about 13% of the world edible oil production. Sunflower was introduced in Tanzania during colonial times and it was found to grow in almost all parts of the country. Interestingly, the crop grows well in the dry weather conditions of the Central Corridor compared to other crops like maize and wheat.
  • How much sunflower oil is produced a year?
  • While the production of sunflower oil seeds varying between 75,000 to 100,000 tons from year 2001 to 2005, it increased in the last two seasons dramatically to more than 350,000 tons since 2006 (Figure 1).
  • Is sunflower oil edible?
  • Currently sunflower oil makes about 13% of the world edible oil production. Sunflower was introduced in Tanzania during colonial times and it was found to grow in almost all parts of the country. Interestingly, the crop grows well in the dry weather conditions of the Central Corridor compared to other crops like maize and wheat.
  • How many bags of sunflower oil a day does RLDC process?
  • In 2007, the RLDC business partner in Kiteto started to run a sunflower oil processing plant in Kibaya. The partner processes 40-50 bages of sunflower seeds per day, operating the plant 7-9 months per year, processing a total of 9,000-13,000 bags per year.
  • What is the demand for vegetable oil in Tanzania?
  • Demand for vegetable oil is at least growing with the rate of population growth. The production of oilseeds in Tanzania mainly focuses on ground nuts (40%), sunflower (36%), sesame (15%), cotton (8%), and palm oil (1%).