Tanzania to allocate 10% budget on agriculture
20-November-2011
Source
East African Business WeekAuthor
Kenan Kalagho
The Government has pledged to set aside 10% of its annual budget on agriculture and food security in order to attain its vision for food production by 2025. Speaking at the Tanzania Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plan (TAFSIP) High Level Business Meeting conference in Dar es Salaam, the Vice President Dr. Mohammed Ghalib Bilal said Tanzania has already started working on the green revolution plan popularly known as 'Kilimo Kwanza' Agriculture culture.
(Prof Jumanne Maghembe , Tanzania minister for Agriculture and Food security Photo by Kenan Kalagho)
The Vice President said both the green revolution initiative of Tanzania mainland and the Agriculture Transformation Initiative of Zanzibar are achievable. The initiatives aims at boosting the economy and living standards of Tanzanians engaged in farming, who constitute over 80% of the population of close to 45 million, most of whom live in abject poverty. In the current budget - 2011/12, the Government has allocated 6.8% of its budget on agriculture out of a total budget of Tshs 13.5 trillion (US$7.8 billion). Dr Bilal said the TAFSIP has come at the right time as the country makes efforts to boost the 'agriculture first' initiative master plan. In order to succeed, Dr Bilal said a number of bottle necks and impediments needed to be ironed out - these include construction of rural infrastructure such as irrigation canals, markets for the produce, farming education, appropriate seeds, and provision of fertilizers. The Vice President assured that the land conflicts between indigenous populations and large scale investors will be sorted out to allow for big investors to start projects. The Minister for Agriculture Food and Security Professor, Mr Jumanne Maghembe, said the agreement signed under the 'Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)' in 2010 was a positive step to implement the challenges of food security. Prof Maghembe said Tanzania was in a better position to succeed because after all because 95% of all foods consumed in the country were locally farmed in the country. He said the TAFSIP program seeks to achieve at least a minimum of 6 percent growth in the agriculture sector will aim to help small holder farmers, pastoralists and agro-pastoralists and fishing households, who will be helped to adopt improved agricultural practices for which the government needed to allocate a minimum of 10% of its budget. "It was important for the country to look on the best ways of improving the irrigation systems which is only 1%, and also improve the availability of improved seeds to attain the envisaged increased in agricultural production," the Minister stressed. The chairman of Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), Felix Mosha, underscored that there was need for the private sector to engage fully in this sector. However, he urged the Government to show serious political will and commitment in implementing the 'kilimo kwanza' initiative and to help the small farmers by using partly the large-scale farmers. This partnership has shown positive results in areas which grow sugar cane whereby the small farmers become contract producers. The partnership reduces the investment by large scale farmers as it benefits the farmers who get assured of the market for their products. The Tanzania Agriculture Food Investment plan conference was attended by different stakeholders, including representatives of the private sector, the civil society, development partners and farmers and also representatives from the African Union. The ten-year TAFSIP investment plan being unveiled by the government of Tanzania is expected to cost the government some $5.3b when the program is fully implemented by 2016.- East African Business News
The Vice President said both the green revolution initiative of Tanzania mainland and the Agriculture Transformation Initiative of Zanzibar are achievable. The initiatives aims at boosting the economy and living standards of Tanzanians engaged in farming, who constitute over 80% of the population of close to 45 million, most of whom live in abject poverty. In the current budget - 2011/12, the Government has allocated 6.8% of its budget on agriculture out of a total budget of Tshs 13.5 trillion (US$7.8 billion). Dr Bilal said the TAFSIP has come at the right time as the country makes efforts to boost the 'agriculture first' initiative master plan. In order to succeed, Dr Bilal said a number of bottle necks and impediments needed to be ironed out - these include construction of rural infrastructure such as irrigation canals, markets for the produce, farming education, appropriate seeds, and provision of fertilizers. The Vice President assured that the land conflicts between indigenous populations and large scale investors will be sorted out to allow for big investors to start projects. The Minister for Agriculture Food and Security Professor, Mr Jumanne Maghembe, said the agreement signed under the 'Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)' in 2010 was a positive step to implement the challenges of food security. Prof Maghembe said Tanzania was in a better position to succeed because after all because 95% of all foods consumed in the country were locally farmed in the country. He said the TAFSIP program seeks to achieve at least a minimum of 6 percent growth in the agriculture sector will aim to help small holder farmers, pastoralists and agro-pastoralists and fishing households, who will be helped to adopt improved agricultural practices for which the government needed to allocate a minimum of 10% of its budget. "It was important for the country to look on the best ways of improving the irrigation systems which is only 1%, and also improve the availability of improved seeds to attain the envisaged increased in agricultural production," the Minister stressed. The chairman of Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), Felix Mosha, underscored that there was need for the private sector to engage fully in this sector. However, he urged the Government to show serious political will and commitment in implementing the 'kilimo kwanza' initiative and to help the small farmers by using partly the large-scale farmers. This partnership has shown positive results in areas which grow sugar cane whereby the small farmers become contract producers. The partnership reduces the investment by large scale farmers as it benefits the farmers who get assured of the market for their products. The Tanzania Agriculture Food Investment plan conference was attended by different stakeholders, including representatives of the private sector, the civil society, development partners and farmers and also representatives from the African Union. The ten-year TAFSIP investment plan being unveiled by the government of Tanzania is expected to cost the government some $5.3b when the program is fully implemented by 2016.- East African Business News
No comments:
Post a Comment