Posted on April, 2, 2019 at 11:06 am
KILWA District Council has raised revenue collection target by about 43 per cent in the forthcoming 2019/2020 financial year on expected bumper harvest of sesame, its main cash cow.
The Chairman of the District Council, Mr Ahmed Musa Mjaka, told the `Daily News’ in Lindi Region that they were banking on sesame to boost its revenue collection from 3.5bn/- this year to 5.0bn/- in the next financial year.
He said application of modern electronic system in revenue collection is also expected to contribute to an increase in revenue for the council. “Sesame is our leading source of revenue.
It contributes more than gas or cashew nuts,” he said in an interview after the region held a major business and investment forum to promote investment opportunities in Lindi region.
Kilwa District is home to Songo Songo gas field located on and offshore Songo Songo Island. Natural gas from two onshore and three offshore wells at the island is piped to a plant on the island for processing before it is transported to Dar es Salaam through a pipeline.
According to him, sesame was expected to contribute 1.4bn/- of the total revenue collection for the 2018/19 financial year and its contribution had not declined in the past three years while gas activities bring about 600m/- annually.
Sesame production in Kilwa is projected to reach 15,000 tonnes in the 2019/20 season up from 13,500 tonnes in the 2018/19 season, the District Agriculture, Irrigation and Cooperatives Officer (DAICO), John Mkinga told the ‘Daily News.’
The production of the crop reached 11,500 tonnes in 2017/18 season up from 10,000 tonnes in 2016/17 season, he said.
The DAICO officer said they were expecting an increase in sesame production because the number of people cultivating sesame kept on rising each year fuelling worries of increasing deforestation as they clear huge areas of forest in shifting cultivation.
“Deforestation is a challenge we’re confronted with. Every two years farmers clear another land,” he said noting, however, that they have sensitization programme to educate farmers on better use of land in cultivation of the crop.
“We have begun demonstration on farms through farmers’ groups under the department of agriculture and we show them how they can use the same farm for years for better yields,” he said.
Sesame is the second most important cash crop in south-eastern Tanzania after cashew. Like cashew, sesame is grown by smallscale farmers in mono-crop farms.
Source: Daily News