(SAGCOT) Chief Executive Officer, Geofrey Kirenga
Addressing a panel at a breakfast meeting earlier this week in Dar es Salaam, Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Chief Executive Officer Geofrey Kirenga blamed the situation on poor investment in the sector.
According to a SACGOT report of 2011, there are 44 million hectares of arable land in Tanzania, but only 24 percent has been utilized.
Further, it was noted that, most areas of the country record moderate rains all year long and a majority are also surrounded by water sources such as rivers, lakes and large reservoirs of underground water, all of which can be used for irrigation, with sufficient investment.
Kirenga said the available land on the continent calls for serious efforts to improve agricultural production and overcome the burden of importing food, freeing huge chunks of budget for other development efforts.
Should this be done, he said, it would lead to increased employment opportunities for youth and women improving the living standards of families across the country.
He said: “Improved agricultural productivity will also increase the circulation of money and attract more youth to study the field and in turn increase the number of agricultural specialists on the continent.” “In the 1900s, the
world had a total of 3 billion people; currently the number has increased to at least 10 billion people. The worldwide population increase has to be accompanied with improvement in the agricultural sector to meet the alarming demand for food,” he said calling it an investment opportunity for Africa.
He went on say, since its establishment in 2011, SACGOT through the public private partnership (PPP) has managed to improve agricultural production in the Southern corridor of Tanzania and eased the availability and distribution of fertiliser.
He also pointed out that SACGOT has doubled tea price from 240/- to 480/- per kilo and increased the availability of better seeds from 5000 tons to 30,000 tons this year.
The SACGOT CEO advised the government to review its decision of allowing zero tariff food crop importation, saying the move hurts local traders since the imported food crops are sold at lower prices in the market.
He said under the public private partnership, SACGOT plans to set up a system of involving local farmers in the decisions to allow or denounce the importation of food crops.
According to him, farmers in the country are still exploited, pointing out that food crop prices, especially rice, are still low and do not benefit the farmers.
He noted that in the 1990s there were at least 15,000 extension workers but due to poor investment in agriculture the number of extension workers has declined to 3,500 by 2005.
However, he acknowledged that government efforts to revamp the sector, saying the number of extension workers has now increased to over 9,000 workers and the target is to reach 15,000 extension workers again.
The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) initiative is the outcome of the World Economic Forum on Africa held in May, 2010 in Dar es Salaam.
It currently works in the regions of Dar es Salaam, Coast, Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya, Ruvuma, Rukwa, Njombe and Katavi with the total population of 12 million farmers.
It was mainly established to support and bolster efforts being undertaken by the government and other stakeholders aimed at bringing about green revolution.
The natural potential of the southern corridor offers commercial farmers, large, medium and small, a broad spectrum of crops to grow, both for local consumption and export.
The major crop opportunities include cereals (wheat, barley, maize, sorghum, and rice), horticulture, sugar, citrus, soya beans, coffee, tea, potatoes, bananas, beans, vegetables and sunflower. In terms of livestock, it deals with beef, goats, poultry, sheep, pigs and dairy operations.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
No comments :
Post a Comment