PARTICIPANTS at the historic Mwanza Business Forum are expressing ‘guarded optimism’ over an ambitious shopping list on improved trade and investment within the Lake Zone, in particular, its hopes pegged on irrigation farming fed on Lake Victoria waters.
Mwanza Regional Commissioner John
Mongella is hosting the second business forum at the popular Rock City
Mall, following closely on the heels of its debut performance in Simiyu
Region, also within the Lake Zone.
The Forum is yet another continuation of
an initiative to explore trade, business and investment opportunities
in the country launched by Tanzania Standard (Newspapers) Limited (TSN)
in collaboration with other partners including, inter alia, the National
Microfinance Bank (NMB), Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), TIB
Development Bank, TIB Corporate Bank, Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB), LAPF
Pension Fund, Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited (TTCL),
Victoria Palace Hotel and the Rock City Shopping.
Others are the Medical Stores Department
(MSD), Watumishi Housing Company (WHC), National Health Insurance Fund
(NHIF) and the National Economic Empowerment Council, among others.
This day-long session drew various
presentations on trade, business and investment where, after the papers,
over 20 stakeholders raised ‘red flags’ on at least 30 issues with
regard to improving trade and investment within Mwanza Region –
eliciting heated debate, with the irrigation agriculture getting the
spotlight.
NMB Bank Acting Head of Corporate
Banking, Mr Nsolo Mlozi, argued that majority of farmers engage in
agriculture just to sustain their living instead of forging businesses.
“This is only possible through starting thinking of irrigation and
market.
And we (NMB Bank) have a window for
providing loans for agribusiness in our 500bn/- project,” Mr Mlozi
revealed. Mr Freddy Matuja, an agricultural stakeholder, wondered aloud
about how good (extent) the region would go at exploiting its abundant
water resources in transforming its agriculture from rain-fed to the
complex mechanisation that irrigation agriculture requires.
“We need to construct irrigation schemes to connect villages close to the Lake Victoria.
This would facilitate opening up
employment opportunities to the youth … all grounded on the agricultural
sector,” Mr Matuja said. The Director of Strategic and Corporate
Planning and Corporate with the TIB Development Bank, Mr Patrick
Mongella, remarked: “Agriculture without irrigation is like gambling
because you are uncertain over whether it would rain or not.”
He told the investors to use loans in constructing irrigation infrastructure to realise the outcome of the agriculture.
Another participant, Mr Paul Kato, shared Mr Matuja’s insights on irrigation, suggesting that the pipes could be constructed fro
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