SAME District Council has embarked on strategies aimed at encouraging cultivation of sisal crop to diversify and increase sources of income in the district.
The Council’s Chairman, Mr Yusto Mapande said during a symposium held in Same District of Kilimanjaro Region that aimed at promoting cultivation of the additional cash crop in the district.
“Geographically, Same District is semi-arid, a situation that affects farmers in cultivating crops like maize and beans. Thus, sisal is a proper crop for the area because it can endure arid weather,” he said.
He said the move to introduce the sisal crop in the district targeted to make it one of the strategic crops in the district that would ultimately boost the income of the people.
“We will mobilise people including small scale farmers to cultivate the crop to increase their income as well as boost the economy of the district,” he said.
Mr Mapande said to achieve the goal the district council has already set aside a total of 4,000 acres, to begin with, whereby the main beneficiaries are potential small scale farmers who have shown interest in cultivating sisal.
“This area has been divided into 158 blocks of which has 25 acres, these blocks will be distributed to agricultural stakeholders who have shown their willingness in cultivating the crop,” he said.
He said also that the council’s authority has continued to encourage small scale farmers who cultivate other crops to grow sisal through mixed farming to boost their income.
To ensure that farmers especially small scale ones are successful in promoting sisal farming, the district council has established sisal seed nurseries to provide farmers with the best seeds.
On his part, the Director General of the Tanzania Sisal Board, Mr Saddy Kambona, said that the board continues with strategies meant to encourage small scale farmers to cultivate and boost sisal crop output in the country.
“For the financial year 2020/21, we were able to produce 43,000 tonnes of sisal. The government goals are to produce 120,000 tonnes of sisal by the financial year 2025/2026,” he said.
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