Fertiliser
BY RICARDO JOHN
Construction of fertiliser industries in rural areas is necessary at the time when the country is implementing “Kilimo Kwanza” so as to enable farmers to obtain fertilisers at affordable price.
Principal Agricultural Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives Hamisi Nyangi made the remarks recently in an exclusive interview with The Guardian.
“Most industries dealing with the production of fertilisers are available in the cities, implying that the “Kilimo Kwanza” policy expectations are not being met.
Specifying, he said constructing industries in rural areas are not enough and moreover farmers need to be educated on the importance of soil experimentation before application of industrial fertilisers.
He explained that absence of fertiliser industries in rural areas contribute heavily towards environmental pollution in Dar es Salaam as huge tonnes of fertilisers from urban industries are dumped in the Indian Ocean when expired.
In his view, pollution due to over concentration of fertiliser industries in urban centres could be overcome if more industries were established in rural areas where processing would be done.
He said apart from fertiliser industries, other industries producing consumer goods have to be constructed in rural areas rather than in urban to easy the processing of raw materials as opposed to the current situation whereby raw foods are taken from rural areas to urban centres for processing and then returned to the rural areas.
“When Prime Minister opened a honey processing industry at Kibaha , it beat my understanding because Kibaha is a region where honey is scarce yet regions which produce honey in large quantities are short of industries,” said Nyangi .
For his part, Information Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives Sankana Simkoko acknowledged lack of industries as one of the major challenges facing the agricultural sector and called for quick measures to avert the situation.
“Tanzania’s population is at 40 million, according to last year’s statistics, of which 80 percent are said to be farmers. However, more efforts are needed to enable farmers perform better and hence realise high revenue.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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