At the opening of the Green Revolution
forum (AGRF-2012) in Arusha recently, the President of the Alliance
for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Ms Jane
Karuku, stated that Tanzania's
recent agricultural growth represents a case study of what is possible. Tanzania is
posed to become middle income country by 2025 and be the basket food for the
East and Central African region. Our reporter sheds light on Agriculture
development in Tanzania;
According to Jane Karuku, the President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Tanzania's
recent agricultural growth represents a case study of what is possible. For
example, in the Kilombero district of Morogoro, the yields for maize have
recently increased for some small holder farmers from 1.5 to 4.5 tons per
hectare; the yields for rice have increased from 2.5 to 6.5 tons per hectare.
The goal of the government is to transform Tanzania into a middle income
country by 2025, fuelled, in a significant part, by growth in its agricultural
sector.
It
was from this significant development that qualified Tanzania to host the forum. From
Sept 26 to 28, Arusha city became the busiest city ever. The Green Revolution
Forum (AGRF 2012), built on recent momentum to tackle global food security. The
forum was attended by African heads of state, ministers, international
organizations, civil society, the private sector, farmers and other
stakeholders.
The
forum whose theme was “scaling up investment and innovation for sustainable
agricultural growth and food security”, set the stage for African ownership in
the next phase of scaling agricultural development solutions and steering
investment to build a sustainable, food secure future.
At the opening of the forum, President Kikwete who was the
guest of honour, said agriculture has always been given priority since
independence in 1961. He said that the most recent initiative to develop
agriculture in the country is the 2006 Agricultural Sector Development
Programme (ASDP).
“This is 14-year programme aimed at transforming Tanzania’s
agriculture through overcoming obstacles to transformation and growth of the
agriculture sector.
However, he said that in the course of implementing the
programme, it was realized that the programme was overly dependent on government
financing and support from donors. Unfortunately, the government’s financial
capacity was very limited and donors financing was not sufficient enough to
meet all the needs of the sector.
“Donor support to agriculture in Africa
has declined from 18 billion dollars twenty years ago, to 3 billion dollars
three years ago before increasing to the current level of 6 billion dollars” he
said.
However, the president hailed Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) for its support on agriculture sector particularly
in four inter-linked programs namely programme for Africa’s seed systems,
(PASS), Soil Health Program, Market Access program and policy program.
He said in 2011, AGRA
supported the Ministry of Agriculture to develop the breadbasket strategy. The
implementations of the programs are continuing to bear fruits.
Citing an example, the president said, AGRA program have helped to reduce distance
farmers travel to access agricultural input from average of 30 kilometers to 16
kilometers in the 39 districts where the agro dealer development is being
implemented.
AGRA’s
support has also helped to reduce post harvest losses from 30 percent to 15
percent in Kilombero district.
“These are no small achievements. We want to reassure
those who are supporting AGRA
that your money is not wasted. It is making a different in the lives of Tanzania” said
the President.
The president
requested donors to increase their support adding that on its part, it will
increase the involvement of the private sector to address financial, technical,
and technological challenges facing agriculture.
“In 2008 my government in collaboration with the private
sector decided to undertake a joint study of the situation of agriculture in
the country and agree on what we can do. The study concluded that agriculture
needed to be given top priority by everybody. The government, farmers, private
sector and development partners, we all agree that agriculture should come
first and this is what gave birth to the catch-phrase or motto of kilimo kwanza
meaning agriculture first” he said.
He said the government will continue with its facilitation
role and enabling role. This includes putting in place sound policy and
regulatory environment, investing in research and development, providing
extension services and building relevant institutions.
For
his part, the Chairman of the African Green Revolution Alliance (AGRA) Dr. Kofi
Annan commended Tanzania
for its commitment and determination to transform agriculture sector saying
long term solutions to food and nutrition security can be realized.
He
said that agricultural investments must rise t at least 10 percent levels of
the national budget pledged under the 2003 Maputo declaration. The right policies are
also needed to increase public and private investments.
Commenting
on supporting small scale farmers, Annan said that across the board, there must
be an unwavering focus on improving the productivity and profitability of small
holder farmers-most of whom are women.
He
said they can be supported by creating opportunities to enable them to move
from subsistence farming to running their firms as business, and encouraging
community cooperation to empower individual farmers.
He
also pointed out that there is a need to ensure they are well organized and
have access to seeds, fertilizers, knowledge and markets so they can play their
full role in Africa’s agricultural
transformation and embrace new technologies to give younger generation’s
greater opportunity to play a large role in the agricultural revolution.
However,
he said larger farms have also a critical role to play, particularly in testing
and disseminating new technologies and providing opportunities for aggregating
small holder production for market.
“We cannot increase food production in the
speed needed without empowering small-scale producers, so it is high time for
leaders to take actions and increased funding from donors,” he said.
Linking
food security and health issues, Melinda Gates, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the
Bill& Melinda Gates, called on African governments to take practical
actions to improve food security saying that would solve some health issues
resulting from hunger and malnutrition.
Melinda
Gates, who had an opportunity to visit Meru farms in Mbuguni ward, also said
that for a viable productivity, there is a need to empower women as well
because they are the ones who work hard and produces more at family level.
Melinda and Anna
tour of the farms aimed at learning how smallholder farmers in the country are
achieving in self-driven agricultural efforts and how their efforts can be
transformed and guarantee food security on the African continent.
“When you look at
family level, majority of producers are women. So, we need to respond to what
women farmer’s needs” she said.
Agriculture,
food security and cooperatives minister, Eng. Christopher Chiza said that given
the importance of agriculture, which has the potential to alleviate poverty
among poor people and enhance economic development, Tanzania has embarked on
several programs including policy environment that aimed at making the country
food self-sufficient.
“Policy
environment is a key issue, Tanzania
is committed to making this a reality. We will continue addressing challenges
so as to unlock the potentials in agriculture” he said.
Minister
Chiza urged African leaders, and other stakeholders to make sure they turn
experiences and knowledge gained during the forum into actions adding that the
private sector has a key role to play in strengthening food and agricultural
support systems.
“That’s
why in recent years,” he said, “the government of Tanzania has been committed to
working with the sector through public–private partnership to enhance
agriculture in the country. My appeal to you all is to turn this into actions
and in partnerships to ensure that small farmers particularly women benefit
from these interventions in a more profitable and sustainable manner” he said.
He
adds: let us not forget that we all should strive to make farming a business
that would attract youth to agriculture and increase employment. Without new
technologies, better seeds and other farm inputs, it will be difficult to
improve agriculture and realize a food secure nation”.
Tanzania is
endowed with huge arable land area estimated at 44 million ha. However,
currently, only 10.1 million ha or 23 percent is cultivated.
The
total potential irrigable area is estimated at 29.4 million hectares with
different suitability levels with 2.3 million ha of high irrigation development
potential, 4.8 million ha of medium potential and 22.3 million ha of low
development potential.
By our
reporter
Ends.
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