Posted on February, 8, 2019 at 09:29 am
TANZANIA and Egypt are set to enter into a joint venture for large scale farming of rice, wheat and cotton in a move aimed to boost agro processing industries in the country.
The countries had a meeting over the matter here in Dodoma on Tuesday, after which they will prepare technical procedures for the undertaking ahead of signing a contract for the partnership.
The meeting was attended by Agriculture Minister, Japhet Hasunga and other top officials from the ministry, and a delegation from Egypt led by the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Dr Ezzidine Abu Stiet.
Mr Hasunga said they agreed to complete technical issues and other procedures within two or three months so that in June they can sign the pact for partnership.
“We are going to look at areas in irrigation agriculture that we can cooperate, but so far we think that cotton, rice and wheat are areas we can start with,” Mr Hasunga said when briefing reporters shortly after the talks.
Some of the regions that the ministry has so far earmarked for establishing large scale farming of such crops are Manyara, Morogoro and Southern Highlands regions.
“These are areas that we (the ministry) have proposed, but our colleagues will also have a chance to go and see the areas,” he said.
The minister said the partnership will also see Tanzania benefit from agriculture skills and technology transfer from Egypt which has advanced in irrigation technologies.
His counterpart, Dr Stiet said the two countries were seeking an avenue for collaboration and work hand in hand for sustainable agriculture and welfare of Tanzanians.
“We had fruitful discussions with the minister in areas of technology and skill transfer to improve agro economy,” he said.
He said the two parts have vowed to put the discussion into action, and to start with, they have agreed on technical framework. He said the technical team will now embark on identifying lands for the large scale farming of the mentioned crops.
Source: Daily News