Women food processors have called on the government to establish areas for them to operate.

“We beseech the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment as well as district councils to allocate areas for small-scale and medium food processors,” Tanzania Food Processors Association of Women Entrepreneurs (Tafopa) chairperson Suzy Laizer said here yesterday.

Such industrial parks should be furnished with modern processing equipment to do all the work, she said.

Tafopa technical advisor Gloria Kavishe said by so doing Tanzanian small-scale food processors would be able to increase product quantities and qualities to compete nationally and internationally.

They were speaking to journalists ahead of the holding of the association’s one-day forum in the city on Saturday.

Some 100 people are expected to take part in the meeting that will be opened by Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Established nine years ago, the 600-member Tafopa has so far trained 6,000 operators of small and medium-size enterprises on financial management, bargaining, processing, labelling and packaging.