Tanzania wants local leather quality to improve
Tanzania’s government has said it is investing in programmes to improve the quality of hides and skins in the country to allow it to depend less on imports and supply itself more of the products its citizens.
Officials at the ministry of livestock and fisheries have said that Tanzania is producing 1.2 million pairs of shoes a year at the moment, but importing around 50 million pairs.
The ministry has said it wants to improve skills in abattoirs so that better flaying will help domestic tanners produce better leather.
Its claim is that, since July last year, 765 abattoir operatives have received training in flaying, with the government supplying new knives.
In parallel, it has appointed more than 100 inspectors in 13 regions to monitory the quality of hides and introduced a new hide-grading system for local tanneries to use.
