Posted on January, 29, 2019 at 07:55 am
THE Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) yesterday appealed to all countrywide regions to use a cluster system that promotes agricultural growth, because it has proved its worth in propping up industries and liberating peasants from shackles of poverty in the southern regions.
Making the speech in Dar es Salaam, SAGCOT Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Geoffrey Kirenga, said that his agency commends activities of the farmers in the southern regions and supports the government in their ways to eke out a living. He hinted that Sagcot was making gainful use of opportunities it unearthed in two clusters and inaugurated to serve peasants in Iringa, Njombe, Mbeya and Songwe regions.
Sagcot, launched in 2010, was tasked to raise the socio-economic status of peasants in southern regions of Tanzania, and help them regain their lost glory of being the national granary. "The secret behind the socio-economic gains we are associated with today in our corridor, is the cluster system which we conceived and have supervised it very closely because it is an inclusive system.
"If this system will be adopted by regions that are anxious to learn from our corridor, national agricultural production will steadily and reasonably go up," pointed out the CEO. SAGCOT defines the cluster system as a geographic concentration of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers and associated institutions. In clusters, farmers and stakeholders collectively identify priority crops and services and ensure productivity.
Two operational clusters in the southern regions are Ihemi (serving Iringa and Njombe peasants) and Mbarali (Mbeya and Songwe regions). Mr Kirenga said more clusters are planned to serve peasants in Ludewa, Rufiji and Sumbawanga, besides a new operational Kilombero Cluster that was recently launched to serve smallholders in Morogoro Region.
He said tomato production has increased in Ihemi cluster, where the country now does not import them, and already two tomato processing industries have been established. Mr Kirenga said Sagcot is looking forward to seeing curious regional leaderships adopt the cluster system to increase agricultural production and raise their peasants' welfare in other parts of Tanzania.
"We have to ensure we have a stable efficient agriculture that steadily and efficiently feeds national industries. However, agriculture is the key in all our national goals that every stakeholder must take very seriously," he added.
The CEO said their successes could not have been realised without the generous support of the Tanzania Government, UKAID, Norwegian Embassy, USAID, UNDP, the World Bank and AGRA.
Source: Daily News