Civil servants in a procession during a past Public Service Week. The
government plans to implement a contributory retirement benefits scheme
for its employees on July 1 this year. FILE
By The Citizen Reporter
Dodoma. The National Social
Security Fund (NSSF) is supporting private firms intending to invest in
the textile sector in its bid to support value addition to farm
products.
Tabling his 2013/14 budget in Parliament on
Monday, the minister for Agriculture, food security and Cooperatives,
Eng Christopher Chiza, said under the programme, NSSF would be providing
60 per cent of the investment.
“The ministry will continue to encourage and
sensitise any company which wants to invest in the agriculture sector.
We ask companies which would like to join this initiative to come now,”
he said.
Mr Chiza said the government has welcomed private
people to invest in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of
Tanzania (SAGCOT).
The programme aims at increasing production of
rice and sugar to satisfy local needs as well as those of the East
African and SADC regions“The ministry encourages heavy investment in which big businesses will cooperate with their local counterparts as well as small holder farmers to improve production,” he said.
He said up to now some 300 companies from the
country and outside have shown interests in investing in agriculture and
have registered themselves with the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC)
and SAGCOT.
He noted that, in collaboration with the Ministry
of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development areas fit for
investment have been identified.
He named them as Kilombero, Rufuji, Malagarasi River and Lake Nyasa basins.
In the same vein, Engineer Chiza said, the TIB
Development Bank has also indicated that it would support the Tandahimba
Newala Cooperative Union (Tanecu) in constructing a processing plant
for cashew nuts.
He said the ministry has also assisted 20 groups
with 631 members in Mtwara Region to purchase processing plants for
cassava and sunflower for 11 groups with 360 farmers.
It has also facilitated 14 schemes to get rice de-husking machines with a capacity of processing five to 30 tonnes of rice daily.
It has also facilitated 14 schemes to get rice de-husking machines with a capacity of processing five to 30 tonnes of rice daily.
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