RATIN

Govt hails development partners’ contribution to a

Posted on June, 13, 2019 at 09:24 am


THE government has appreciated the contribution by development partners towards the improvement of the agriculture sector in the country and called for more support in the implementation of the Agriculture Sector Development Programme Phase Two (ASDP II).

Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday during a meeting with development partners’ Agriculture Working Group (AWG) representatives, the Minister of Agriculture, Japhet Hasunga, said that his ministry was grateful for all the technical and financial support that it has received from them so far.

“We value, acknowledge and appreciate your technical and financial support that you have been providing for the development of our agriculture sector. In fact I have a long list of different forms of support in agriculture sector from each of you,” he said adding: “It’s magnificent and promising as far as agricultural sector development in this country is concerned.”

Minister Hasunga pointed out that the meeting was crucial since it was going to reflect on the progress made so far in the implementation of the ASDP II and the ongoing review exercise of the Nation Agriculture Policy of 2013.

Regarding the ASDP II implementation, Minister Hasunga noted that the programme is ten years and is implemented in two phases of five years each, the first phase is now focusing on four components namely; sustainable water and land use management; enhanced agricultural productivity and Profitability.

Others are commercialization and value addition; and creation of a conducive environment to agricultural stakeholders for effective participation and investment in agricultural activities.

“It should be noted that, fifty nine percent of the resources for implementation of ASDP II is expected to come from the private sector while forty one percent will be contributed by the Government and Development Partners. This means that all of us have a crucial role to play,” he noted.

On the Agriculture Policy, the minister explained it was necessary to review it since it is now six years from the time its implementation started. He also said that the exercise of review of the policy goes in tandem with preparation of Agriculture Policy Implementation Strategy and Formulation of an Agriculture Law.

Speaking earlier on, the AWG co-Chair, Fred Kafeero, said that the meeting, among other things, was meant to congratulate the Minister after his appointment to head the Ministry but also for them to reaffirm their commitment to support the country in its endeavours to improve the agriculture sector.

“We would like to register our congratulations to you but also to restate our availability and commitment to support your Ministry especially in the implementation of the ASDP II. We are always available to do that,” he said.

meeting was later joined by the newly appointed Minister of Industry and Trade, Innocent Bashungwa who, prior to the new portfolio, was the Deputy Minister for Agriculture.

In his remarks, Minister Bashungwa said that his ministry too greatly values the support by the development partners and noted that Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Industry and Trade were twin ministries in pushing forward the industrialisation agenda in the country.

II includes a segment on agri-business where trade and industry come into play,” he pointed out.

Source: IPP Media