Makete District in Njombe Region has entered into a special cooperation with Tanzania Seeds Agency (ASA) to boost wheat production.
In the timely working tie, which primarily eyes to increase availability of wheat in the country, in this growing season, ASA has rolled out at least 80 tonnes of improved wheat seeds, worth 340m/-, to support wheat growers in the district to increase their production and productivity.
According to ASA’s seeds production manager, Dr Justin Ringo, the state-owned seed agency was working to address shortage of wheat in the country.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that Tanzania’s domestic wheat consumption is estimated at more than 1 million tonnes per year, while total annual production stands at around 93,184 tonnes. This means that Tanzania imports about 90 per cent of the wheat it consumes.
However, to cement the move, the ministry of agriculture had specifically embarked on a fresh move aimed to revive and improve production of wheat in the country.
Being among potential economic cash crops within the country, wheat has been mostly grown by the smallholder farmers in the Northern regions, specifically in Kilimanjaro, Arusha, and Manyara.
According to the Agriculture Minister, Hussein Bashe, the ministry is working tooth and nail to help support improvement of the vital economic sector.
He said, being at the ministry’s wheat major pilot project, the agricultural experts from the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) are teaming up with their counterparts from the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) in conducting professional soil testing at Makete District, Njombe Region.
“The undergoing process focuses to determine areas within the district were wheat can thrive,” he informed.
He moreover said the exercise will see a huge number of farmers within the district imparted with best agronomic principles for the professional cultivation of the crop.
“The major focus of the strategy is to ensure we make effective use of all areas within the country where wheat can flourish. After Makete, we’re focusing to end the intervention into further areas,” he stated.
He detailed that, Tanzania has been endowed with numerous areas where wheat can flourish in abundance, but the economic cash crop has been produced poorly in some few regions.
Source: Daily News