Tanzania has surpassed the 200,000-tonne mark in sesame trading through the Tanzania Mercantile Exchange (TMX), a state-backed digital commodity auction platform designed to modernise the country’s agricultural market system.
The announcement was made in Dar es Salaam by Mahama Kadikilo, TMX’s Business Operations Officer, who highlighted the platform’s role in enhancing market transparency and eliminating inefficiencies in traditional trading channels.
Historically, smallholder farmers in Tanzania have been vulnerable to opaque pricing systems and exploitative middlemen, limiting their profit margins despite strong global demand for sesame. TMX’s model addresses these challenges by professionalising the auction process and introducing competitive bidding, ensuring equitable price discovery for all participants.
The exchange’s digital infrastructure allows licensed buyers to join auctions online, granting them real-time access to commodity data and market trends. This reduces regional disparities in trading opportunities and provides farmers with better market intelligence to negotiate fairer deals.
Among Tanzania’s sesame-producing regions, Lindi Region emerged as the top contributor, supplying around 74,000 tonnes to TMX’s total volume so far.
Kadikilo emphasised that TMX is not only improving pricing fairness but also strengthening Tanzania’s agricultural value chain by fostering trust between producers, traders, and buyers.
The sesame traded via TMX contributes to Tanzania’s growing profile as a competitive supplier in international oilseed markets, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, where demand for high-quality sesame remains strong.
As the platform scales, TMX aims to expand its commodity portfolio, integrate more smallholder farmers, and further digitise trade documentation to reduce transaction costs.
Source: Further Africa
