Zanzibar sighs after the days when it was known as the "Spice Island", where it adds flavor to tables around the world, but the decline in spice production and lower prices has led to a decline The State of Zanzibar in this regard.
The island of Zanzibar is located in the middle of the turquoise of the Indian Ocean, an area of two thousand 500 square kilometers and a population of about 1.5 million people, and keep track of Tanzania with the enjoyment of 'autonomy.
It came the spice seeds, which is famous for the island, with traders who came before centuries of Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and grew and flourished in the warm climate of 'island.
And enter the Portuguese who took control of Zanzibar in the sixteenth century, new types of spices to the island.
And he changed the social, political and economic life in Zanzibar, after the transfer of Sultan Sayyid Said bin Sultan to his capital in the 19th century and prospered in the culture and then the clove on the island, which was A price similar to the price of gold.
After Zanzibar was the first producer of cloves until two decades ago, it became the third largest in the world after Indonesia and Madagascar, which produces 7% of cloves in the world.
According to government statistics in Zanzibar, the island has been producing cloves in the range of 16 thousand tons a year in the seventies of the last century, fell between 500 thousand and 4 thousand 800 tons a year , during the last years.
The government aims to increase production to 10 thousand tons per year by 2020.
And see that the producers of clove production decline has occurred due to the monopoly policy conducted by the government, and complain about the low price of cloves and see that the price could rise if it were Free trade agreement.
However, clove is one of the most important sources of currency for Zanzibar, because the government does not allow to enter the free market.
Farmers are trying to gain an edge in the global spice and spice market through traditional agricultural and production-only methods, where the government encourages the monopoly pods of the body's trade, organic farming To try and make Carnation Zanzibar brand on the global scale.
Due to low prices, some farmers have resorted to the sale of their products on the black market or illegally introduced to Kenya illegally, where it sold more than twice the legal price in Zanzibar.
In addition to cloves, Zanzibar also produces cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, pepper, cardamom and other spices.
Spices are grown in orchards, as well as fruit trees, because they need shade, and concentrated work in harvesting spices in the rainy months, in September, October and November.
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