Magena livestock market reopens in Tarime

AMBROSE WANTAIGWA in Tarime

MINISTER for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mwigulu Nchemba has ordered the reopening of Magena livestock auction market to enable farmers and other business people to trade in livestock and other items as well as increase Tarime township council income

Mr Mwigulu issued the directive when addressing a public rally at Serengeti grounds in Tarime town at the weekend during his working tour in the region that was also attended by Tarime Urban Legislator Esther Matiko and Tarime DC and several Tarime councillors.

The minister said the directive came after a plea from the area MP, Ms Matiko, who said that farmers and livestock traders faced difficulties in their quest to access other distant markets. Some travelled long distances to neighbouring Kenya in search of customers.

According to the MP, the livestock market was closed a couple of years ago by Tarime authorities over environmental and economic reasons. Ms Matiko said despite the shortcomings the newly established Tarime Township Council was facing acute shortage of funds and hailed the government for the decision to reopen the market. The move will enable the council to earn funds for implementation of development projects.

“We salute the decision by the government to announce the reopening of the livestock market because traders were left with no other option except unofficial trading means in open spaces where the actual revenues to the council were not well collected,’’ she said.

The minister ordered the regional security and safety organ to supervise and check all unscrupulous middlemen who trade illegally in livestock across the Sirari Border. He warned farmers to avoid selling their farm produce before the relevant harvest seasons because this was only exposing them to additional losses that could be avoided if they decided to sell in registered markets.

He called on local investors to work on strategies to set up small processing industries for the mostly grown products here such as bananas and cassava that will help add value and manage to raise their incomes instead of depending on foreign markets that are not easily accessible.

‘’We call upon local and any other people from all walks of life to use the potential of favourable climatic conditions in Tarime for grand and small scale farming to produce food and cash crops that can be processed to add value and quality for the benefit of our farmers and consumers.’’

He ordered the Tarime DC to supervise the ongoing countrywide agricultural inputs supply to farmers so as to ensure that the targeted beneficiaries get what they deserve and prevent the tendency by some village leaders to divert inputs to individuals who do not deserve this privilege