THE government is planning to emulate the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) initiative in implementing the second phase of Agricultural Sector Programme Development (ASPD II), it has been stated.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of
Agriculture, Engineer Mathew Mtigumwe revealed this early this week when
inaugurating the new SAGCOT board of directors in Dar es Salaam.
“SAGCOT has proven to be an ideal model
when we speak of public private partnership. Due to its effectiveness in
bringing about good results, we plan to copy the model in the
implementation of ASDP II,” Engineer Mtigumwe said.
According to the Permanent Secretary,
SAGCOT has proven to be an ideal model that indeed makes Public Private
Partnership (PPP) practical. It has uplifted majority of small-scale
farmers who are the producers, from abject poverty to good standards of
livelihood.
During the inauguration of the new
board, former SAGCOT board chair, Mr Salum Shamte handed over duties and
responsibilities to the new board chairperson, Mr Ally Laay.
“During the past six years, the board
under Mr Salum Shamte did a commendable job of developing the southern
highlands zone. I want the new board to pick up from where the former
board ended. The government, being the main donor of the initiative,
will accord full cooperation,” Engineer Mtigumwe said.
Mr Shamte said the major reason behind
establishment of SAGCOT initiative was to transform the way farming was
being practiced to highly productive one, especially for peasants. He
said the initiative has played a pivotal role in changing the mindsets
of peasants by showing them opportunities available in the agricultural
sector.
“We worked to ensure that the
agriculture sector brings about significant contribution in changing the
standards of living of small-scale farmers. We also threw our weight to
fight food shortages at family level and in the country at large,” he
said.
Mr Shamte said an industrialisation
drive being implemented by the fifth phase government needs raw
materials from farms to avoid the problem that occurred in the 1990s,
after many industries that were started after independence died due to
shortage of raw materials.
Speaking on public private partnership,
Mr Shamte said stakeholders in the agriculture sector such as farmers,
suppliers of agricultural inputs, extension officers, local government
leaders and development partners were brought onboard before they were
taken through SAGCOT concept.
Earlier, the new SAGCOT board Chair, Mr
Laay said he never expected to work with SAGCOT in his life. However, he
said that having learned of its major objective (uplifting the poor
from abject poverty) he would tirelessly work to ensure such objective
was achieved.
“I have been working with Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) which means that the objectives of the two entities are the same.
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