Posted on August, 28, 2019 at 09:56 am
THE government is set to review the national agriculture policy in effort to cope with new technology and other national programmes, it has been revealed.
Among other programmes is the National Irrigation Master Plan 2018 which directs that irrigation farming should reach at least a million hectares by 2035. Currently only 56,800 hectares of land is under irrigation farming.
The disclosure was made by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mathew Mtigumwe, affirming that the government was also reviewing the water master plan for immediate implementation.
The PS was speaking while officiating at the Irrigation National Policy dialogue organized by the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) that brought together different stakeholders in the sector.
"We need to review policies and plans so as to have a common position on improving irrigation farming in the country as one of the strategies to improve lives of local farmers," he said.
He called on those who attended the meeting to wisely debate issues affecting irrigation farming and forward their recommendations to the government for further actions.
Mtigumwe noted that by December 2019, various stakeholders shall have held various meetings and the decision session will be held thereafter. There are several issues that once solved will bring a new push for development in the sector, he declared.
The PS underlined that it is high time to create new board systems that will govern agriculture and strategic crops. "Instead of having numerous boards working differently using different systems, we need a policy that governs all the sub-sectors," he told the gathering.
He said the aim is to improve agricultural production, especially through irrigation farming as the country moves towards the 2025 vision for an industrial economy.
During the meeting, the stakeholders shared research findings by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), an international organization working on several countries in Africa, including Tanzania.
Ardhi University is its lead partner in the country, where its representative, Makarius Mndeme noted that research conducted in Iringa and Mbeya regions showed that irrigation farming is productive in those areas and farmers can reap a lot though it.
"This is mainly through modern technology in irrigation farming that if well adopted can improve farmers’ production and livelihoods," he said.
The meeting would brainstorm on how to engage with policy makers on some of the research findings and issues that affect small scale farmers, he added.
Source: IPP Media