Tanzania: PS - Ministry's MOU Will Raise Food Security

By Daily News Reporter in Dodoma

THE Ministry of Agriculture and the World Vegetable Centre-an international nonprofit organisation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to improve research and development of

vegetable crops, enhance nutrition, and increase food security in the country.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Gerald Kusaya said here shortly before signing the pact that the NGO will help boost research of quality of seeds to be drought and pest resistant and equally bear with climatic changes.

According to him, the research and development institution will help in enhancing professionalism to farmers, students and agricultural officers, on best farming practices and technology among others.

"The new agreement will help improve the collection, processing, and restoration of best vegetable seeds for scientific purposes as well as for future generations," he noted.

World Vegetable Centre has been a leading organization conducting research, building network and carrying out training to promote and raise awareness of the role of vegetables for improved health and poverty alleviation.

Studies, however, hint that consumption of vegetables is below the recommended standards in many African countries including Tanzania.

Vegetables are sometimes viewed as inferior meal associated with poverty as people prefer meat when their incomes increase thus creating a nutritionally imbalanced diet.

Mr Kusaya explained that the new agreement is a set towards improving such imbalances. He said the government will exploit the potential of the document to improve output in the vegetable sub-sector for the citizens and gross national product.

On his part, World Vegetable Centre, East and Southern Africa Director-in-Charge of the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre-AVRDC, Dr Gabriel Rugalema, said the pact was vital especially for smallholder groups of vegetable producers, as they struggle to improve nutrition, food security and eke out a living.

In Tanzania, he said, the organisation has worked with the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) since 1997 in improving at least 18 varieties of vegetables including tomatoes that have contributed at least 250million US dollars to the country's economy.

"We have also trained more than 2, 000 Agriculture Experts and 200,000 farmers from both Tanzania Mainland and the Isles," he added.