Abstract:
Manufacturing industries contribute about 8% of the gross domestic products (GDP) whereas leather
and textile industries supply 18% employments of manufacturing industries in Tanzania. Manufacturing
industries merely depend on agriculture for raw materials and other inputs. However, processing of
leather and textiles requires a lot of inputs, many of them supplied from agricultural produce and some
are imported from developed nations. In vast developing countries, including Tanzania, manufacturing
industries are constrained by limited production technology and the allied costs than raw materials.
The conventional processing of leather and textiles requires immense technological investment that is
associated with high production cost. In Tanzania, inputs such as soaking, bating and tanning agents
for tannery industries are expensive and sometimes not readily available due to importation costs. On
the other hand, management of waste effluents from leather and textile processing is the major
impediment for development of these industries. However, natural processing of covering materials by
using fungal biotechnology is of great concern in Tanzania to avert the prevailing constrains. The
application of fungal based biotechnology would reduce production cost and health consequences
resulting from chemicals, particularly, chromium. The effects of toxic chemicals from leather and textile
industries would be mitigated by employing non-viable Aspergillus biomass in the industrial processes.
This would minimize production of the harmful wastes from the industries. As a result, leather and
textile production would be achieved at low cost, without hazardous waste production, resulting to
safer products for both human and the environment. This review evaluates current production of
leather and textile industries and highlights the potentials of microbial biotechnology.
