The government through the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) is expected to purchase 65, 000 tonnes of food cropds from farmers to boost the national food reserves as part of preparations against the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Agriculture minister, Japhet Hasunga, announced in the august House yesterday when he tabled the ministry’s 2020/21 budget estimates, saying this will increase the country’s food reserve to 103,698.794 tonnes in addition to the current 38,698.794 tonnes already stored.
The minister said the country’s monthly grain needs stand at an average 750,000 tonnes considering that only 20 per cent of Tanzanians will need to buy 100-per cent of their food needs and will require 145,000 tonnes which is a small amount of food.
In containing the challenge NFRA will purchase 435 tonnes of food crops worth 217.5bn/- which will be enough to carter for three months, saying in implementing the move, his ministry will hold talks with the Finance ministry for facilitation.
“From June NFRA will buy 300,000 tonnes for the 2020/21 budget and the agency’s internal funds making the total number of food crops to be bought to 735 tonnes,” he said.
The minister however named tea and horticulture as crops which have been affected by Covid-19, saying if the pandemic continues it is likely to affect cotton production which its market starts in May as well the availability of agriculture inputs for the 2020/21 season especially fertilizers and pesticides which are imported.
An analysis by the ministry, Hasunga said has shown that despite coronavirus affecting various economic sectors, the sub-sector had not been affected. However, the food crop subsector not been affected because agriculture imports had already been imported.
In containing the danger, the minister said the ministry will allow importation of fertilizers without following the Bulk Procurement System (BPS) according to section 7(4) of the Fertilizer Bulk Procurement Regulations, 2017.
The ministry of Agriculture requested the House to approve 229.808 bn/- as budget for the 2020/21 financial year.
The minister said the agriculture sector has remains the backbone of the country’s economy whereby in the last five years the sector increased by 17 per cent.The sector contributed 29.5trn/- in the 2018/19 financial year from 25.2 trn/- in 2015.
The sector also offered employment to 58 per cent of Tanzanians in 2018 and contributed 28.2 per cent to the national economy including the food crops sector which contributed about 16.2 percent.
According to the minister, it was due to the increase in production of agriculture products, saying the sector grew by average 5.2 per cent from 2015 to 2019 and the food crop subsector stood at 5.8 per cent.
