Dr. Solomon Assefa, a scientist at Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops (SARD-SC) said Africa was losing $20b yearly on wheat importation.
Assefa was speaking during the recent meeting held in Ghana by Forum for Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA).
He said there is demand for wheat in Africa and there is need to increase its growth from the current 10million hectors.
Assefa said there is need to make wheat a competitive commodity in Africa and governments need to develop research policies to priorities wheat production.
He said wheat has this year been among the major four crops designed as the strategic crops for Africa.
“Tanzania has the capacity to produce 65,000 tons of wheat but it imports more than 950,000 tons every year,” he said.
According to a recent report by Selian Agricultural Research Institute ( SARI), Tanzania requires 608,000 tons of wheat but is producing 93,000 tons every year.
The average wheat production in 2011/12, stood at 892kg per household. 706 kg was sold while129 kg was for domestic consumption.
Ibrahim Mamuya, the Principal Agricultural Research Officer at SARI, told the EABW Tanzania needed to invest in the wheat production in the Southern and Northern regions in order to meet the increasing demand.
He said the low price of wheat is a leading cause for its low growth. There is need for viable research focusing on high yielding crop varieties and the application of modern agricultural technology.
SARD-SC has earmarked areas where research is being conducted to improve the strategic crops for Africa.
Cassava, maize, rice and wheat have been earmarked to be grown in Tanzania, Kenya, Eritrea, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria, Mali and Niger.
No comments:
Post a Comment