HOW will Zanzibar achieve its long term goal to produce enough rice for its people and minimize importation from abroad?
This is the
question that people and authorities here have been trying to answer by
investing in
farming. At least by early this year there were hopes of
increased rice production with authorities saying they were on track to
achieve its ambition of producing enough rice.
But climate change
came up along way with its devastating effects on rice farms. It caused
heavy downpour early this year leading to floods that disrupted
agricultural activities and led to some crop losses.
The Minister for
Agriculture, Natural Resources, Livestock, and Fishing, Mmanga Mjengo
Mjawir, said rice production fell from 47,507.1 tonnes in 2018 to 46,472
tonnes last year (about 2.2 per cent drop). Production of vegetables
and fruits also declined by 18 per cent - from 52,667 tonnes in 2018 to
43,080 tonnes last year, he said.
He said climate
change led to heavy down pour of about 868 millimetres this year causing
floods destroying rice and other farms. Rice has been the second crop
to be grown in large scale after cassava last year.
Food security is
already being impacted in a number of African countries and researchers
are studying suggestive links between climate change and low food
production.
Rice was cultivated
on about 27,374.96 acres (28 per cent of the farming) mainly rain
dependence farming, and including 2,600.71 acres by irrigation, the
Minister said here when discussing about the onple going efforts to
increase rice production.
It was during the
Ministry's budget estimates for the year 20202/2021. According to the
Minister Mjawir, despite the challenge the plan for 2020/2021 to
increase production remains a priority as the government improves
infrastructure for irrigation for at least 65 hectares and
rehabilitation of 87 hectares under the 'Expanding Rice Production
Project (ERPP).'
"We target
producing rice to at least 50,000 tonnes annually on average. We are
increasing support to farmers include provision of farm tractors for
land clearance and ploughing, as subsidy of farm inputs remains," he
said adding that about 33,800 acres (include 20,800 acres in Pemba).
He said that there
has been a follow-up of irrigation infrastructure of 600 hectares in
Chaani, Kilombero, and Cheju valleys for rice farming in Unguja, and
Makwararani and Mlemele valleys in Pemba Islands.
With support from
some development countries like Indonesia, China, and South Korea,
Zanzibar has, in the past two decades, been trying to increase rice
production for its more than 1.3 million people, food security, and
probably export surplus.
Zanzibar needs at
least 80,000 tonnes of rice annually to meet the needs of its
population, but efforts to increase production are focused on 50,000
tonnes target which means the country has to continue relying heavily on
imports.
People here consume
rice imported from Tanzania mainland (mainly Mbeya and Morogoro),
Pakistan, India, and from some Far East countries [like China, Japan,
South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Since 2011, when
Ali Mohamed Shein took over as President introduced "The Agriculture
Revolution/ Transformation Programme" with aim to increase rice
production and end importation of the Zanzibaris staple food.
The government has
tried to address challenges: insufficient farming skills and technology,
shortage of land, and now it has to struggle with emerging impacts of
climate change causing drought, sea water rise, or heavy rains.
The government
offers agricultural subsidies to rice farmers by covering 75 per cent of
the cost of agro-inputs. For example they purchase inputs- Hansunil
herbicide from China, and fertilizers, and the cost of land tilling of
ploughing at subsidized price.
These cumulative
efforts along with training of more than 500 farmers through ERPP have
substantially increased the rice yields from 39,000 tonnes in 2017 to
48,118 tonnes in 2018, but the government wants to see an increase.
In December 2018,
the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Livestock and Fisheries,
signed an agreement with a contractor from the Republic of Korea for
the construction of irrigation infrastructure that covers a total of
1524 hectares.
The irrigation plan
is being implemented in collaboration with other development partners
under a ten-year agricultural project dabbed 'Zanzibar Agricultural
Sector Development Programme (ZASDP).' Despite challenges in farming
which include climate, researches indicate that Zanzibar can still
increase rice production through irrigation.
The Zanzibaris are
encouraged to utilize the opportunities citing the development partners
who have extended a supporting hand. Training of more Field Extension
Officers (FEOs), having enough farming tractors, and other important
farm equipment, are other ongoing plans to ensure farmers double
production.
Zanzibar has set
about 8,521 hectares of land for rice production through irrigation
farming and the archipelago had previously targeted to produce at least
50 per cent of the required rice by end of this year (2020).
Agricultural
experts had advised Zanzibar farmers grow different kinds of rice which
include New Rice for Africa (NERICA), a type of rice developed by the
Africa Rice Centre (AfricaRice) to improve the yield of African rice
varieties.
Other types of rice
grown include: Super-India which takes four months; BKN-Supa (90 days);
TxD 306; and TxD 88 which both take 120 days.
No comments :
Post a Comment