Posted on August, 20, 2018 at 09:47 am
HENRY LYIMO
WORLD Food Programme (WFP) will next week float a tender for supply of 50,000 metric tonnes of maize from Tanzania for its operations in East and Central Africa, the country representative, Michael Dunford has said.
He said in Dar es Salaam yesterday the floating of the supply tender was in implementing the pledge by Executive Director, David Beasley who visited Tanzania last month of buying 75,000 metric tonnes of maize from Tanzania before the end of the year.
“We are launching a tender for 50,000 metric tonnes for our operations in Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan in the course of next week,” he said noting that the purchase of maize locally would boost economic benefits to Tanzania from WFP operations.
The WFP Executive Director, David Beasley had said the UN organisation would buy between 75,000 and 100,000 metric tonnes of maize from the 30,000 tonnes it had already bought so far, as it continues to expand reliable market for maize produced in Tanzania.
That followed a pledge he made to President John Magufuli to support Tanzania’s smallholder farmers with reliable access to markets for their maize harvests and address causes of post harvest losses in key commodity crops, access to extension services and quality inputs.
Mr Dunford said they would earmark the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), commercial and small scale suppliers in the tender as it would buy part of the maize directly from the smallholder farmers to boost rural economies.
The Head of Supply Chain for WFP Tanzania Office, Riaz Lodhi told the ‘Daily News’ recently that they would buy from farmers to contribute in strengthening local economies and supporting the increased resilience and productivity of rural communities.
As the world’s leading humanitarian agency, the World Food Programme (WFP) is a major buyer of staple food – some 80 per cent of which comes from developing countries – for a cash value of over US$ 1 billion a year.
By adopting smallholder friendly procurement, WFP contributes to strengthening local economies and supporting the increased resilience and productivity of rural communities – one of the pillars of its hunger eradication strategy.
Food stocks held by the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) decreased to 68,893.4 tonnes in May 2018 from 73,467.7 tonnes recorded in April 2018, according to the latest Bank of Tanzania monthly economic review.
The food reserve agency sold 6,574.3 tonnes of food to private traders, World Food Programme and prison department.
Source: Daily News