Posted on January, 25, 2022 at 09:00 am
Traditional crops and organic farming stakeholders have asked the government to establish a department that would deal with traditional foods and seeds which are in danger of extinction.
"Traditional foods have become an attraction for many people in various parts of the country in recent days, so having a department dealing with these crops will preserve them from the danger of extinction," said Ms Rose Mwendo, one of the participants of Agricultural Ecology (Agro ecology) training workshop held in Moshi, Kilimanjaro region, recently.
She said some people have been coming from different parts of the country to Moshi seeking traditional foods, being a sign of rediscovered benefits of eating these nutritious diets.
On his part, Mr Frank Odemba from Slow Food Tanzania said sustainable traditional foods agriculture would contribute significantly to curbing the climate change challenge during food production.
Slow Food is a global grassroots organization that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet.
Slow Food involves over a million activists, chefs, experts, youth, farmers, fishers and academics in over 160 countries.
The Chairman of Rombo based traditional foods market project known as the Mangulwa Earth Market, Mr Antipas Shao said that since the establishment of the market in 2007, the value of traditional food products has increased significantly.
"For example, a bunch of a kitarasa type of banana, which costs between 2,000/- and 3,000/- now fetch between 35,000/- and 40,000/- per bunch after adding its value through the earth market's project," he said.
He said the establishment of the earth market through the coordination of Slow Food Tanzania has enabled many people to get educated on traditional foods and seeds that have encouraged many people to engage in the cultivation of traditional foods.
Mr Shao described the other achievement under the earth market project as the acquisition of donors from Italy who have helped to facilitate the production of traditional foods as well as the availability of reliable markets for those crops.
For his part, the coordinator of the agricultural ecology project run by Slow Food Tanzania, Mr Reguli Marandu said the project aimed at among other things preventing the extinction of traditional foods in the country.
"This project aims at providing education on how to grow and prepare traditional foods to ensure that traditional foods don't disappear and people return to using traditional foods whose benefits are obvious," he said.
In addition, he said in achieving its success, the institution had also launched various programmes including the provision of education on the benefits of traditional foods in schools so that students could learn the importance and benefits of traditional foods from an early age.
"Another initiative is the various seminars including this workshop which aims to provide education that will help farmers to boost the national economy through ecological farming," he said.
Source: Daily News