Posted on September, 23, 2020 at 07:55 am
Agriculture Deputy Minister, Mgumba has assured maize famers in Rukwa Region that when the project for building of modern granaries for their crops is completed will solve the problem of markets to them as in the 2019/20 season neighbouring countries closed their borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic hence many foreign buyers failed to come to buy the crops.
The Deputy Minister was speaking in Rukwa Region during his inspection of the ongoing construction of granaries during which he said as for now the National Food Reserves Agency (NFRA) have stopped buying crops because they were making evaluation of farmers who were yet to be paid by NFRA for their crops which up to September 18 this year there wasn’t a single farmer who was yet to be paid because many warehouses were filled up hence the agency was unable to buy more crops.
“You, people of Laela are testimony. And that is why I wanted to make sure to find out whether the granaries and have enough stocks or not, hence the government provided NFRA with funds to build new granaries to enable it store more maize from farmers,” he said.
He added: “The market’s shake up was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic an d that is why you see buyers from neighbouring countries- Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and DRC Congo were not many due to the pandemic. The only way is perhaps to take your maize to other regions in the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, NFRA’s acting manager for Sumbawanga Zone incorporating Rukwa and Katavi Regions Marwa Range said as for now the agency can store 38,500 tonnes but when the granaries project is completed the storage capacity will reach 58,500 tons of cereals.
He said Katavi region alone has the capacity to store 500 tonnes only but when the project is completed it can be able to store 28,000 tonnes of cereals, thereby enabling Sumbawanga zone to have the capacity to store 86,500 tonnes of crops.
He added: “During this season Sumbawanga zone was targeted to buy 55,000 tonnes of maize via its major and minor buying centres, but due to the storage challenges many centres were not opened.”
Resident engineer for the construction of granaries from Tanzania Building Agency (TBA) Haruna Kalunga said the project expected to be completed on March 3, this year will be 40 per cent complete by the end of September this year.
He said: “We have eight granaries, six big and two small ones, five have been completed, one is still under construction.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Mgumba praised the contractors of the modern granaries despite various challenges they encountered including Covid-19 pandemic, and for employing Tanzanians for the work.
Source: IPP Media