Posted on June, 26, 2019 at 10:41 am
FARMERS in southern highland regions have been advised to engage in beans cultivation due to its high demand in the global market and health benefits.
A researcher from Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) Uyole, Dr Mary Ndimbo made the statement recently in Mbeya when speaking at a meeting which brought together researchers, farmers and agricultural stakeholders from southern highland regions.
Dr Ndimbo explained that apart from beans being used as food by farmers themselves, the crop may help them generate a good income if they cultivate it in large scale. She challenged farmers to invest more on cultivating the crop since the current production does not fulfill the country demand.
“Our country is heading towards industrialization; we can add value to our legumes and sell them abroad. Farmers must be change from ordinary to advanced agricultural technologies to boost productivity”, she said.
TARI’s beans farming country coordinator, Dr Rose Mongi urged researchers to provide farmers with quality beans seeds to increase productivity.
She however challenged entrepreneurs to come up with various ways of improving the quality of beans through processing as part of efforts to support the government’s industrialization drive.
Dr Mongo said that Tanzania is among countries that produce a good number of cereals including beans, but yet the production does not meet the country demand. She said the government is ready to support beans farmers and investors wishing to invest in beans processing.
Theresia Mkondolwa, a farmer from Rukwa region said: “I am using beans to make various types of snacks including vegetable samosa, half cakes and nutritional porridge flour”, Senior agriculture researcher from Rwanda, Lyogo Jackson said Tanzania is the leading country in beans production in Africa. He said researchers from Rwanda have been learning from Tanzania on how to improve beans cultivation.
Source: IPP Media