STORY: Tanzanian grape farmer rejoices as local winery plans to tap Chinese market
DATELINE: June 29, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:11
LOCATION: Dodoma
CATEGORY: ECONOMY/SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the vineyard
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Swahili): WILLIAM MEDARD SWAI, Grape farmer
3. various of the vineyard
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ARCHARD KATO, Managing director of Alko Vintages Company Limited
5. various of the wine company

STORYLINE:

In a 1.5-hectare vineyard 39 kilometers north of the Tanzanian capital of Dodoma, 67-year-old grape farmer William Swai has recently been busy checking the grapes, which will be fully ripe and picked to make delicious wine by mid-July.

Tanzania, despite not having an international reputation as a wine producer, is home to the second-largest wine-producing region in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa.

Swai said that the opening of international markets, including the Chinese market, to locally-made wines will boost the production of the country's wineries.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Swahili): WILLIAM MEDARD SWAI, Grape farmer
"The weather is favorable for the production of grapes, which helps produce high-quality wine. Normally good wine comes from good grapes and the best grapes are cultivated here in Dodoma. The government has identified grapes as a strategic cash crop, so if we are able to open up the important markets such as the Chinese market, it means that the farmers are going to benefit and our industries will shine."

Alko Vintages Company Limited is a Tanzanian company that makes several brands of wine. Four years ago, the Tanzanian company began working with a Chinese company based in China's Shandong to export wine products to China.

Some wine brands produced by Alko will be displayed at the third edition of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo slated for June 29 to July 2 in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ARCHARD KATO, Managing director of Alko Vintages Company Limited
"We are really looking forward for our products to be on the Chinese market and of course as we understand the Chinese population, the Chinese economy is so big. We don't really expect at the beginning all the wines to be there but slowly depending on the preferences of the Chinese people, but we are ready to send every product we're producing here to China. The Chinese market will sort out which kind of style with the preference they have."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Dodoma.
(XHTV)