Posted on April, 21, 2021 at 11:40 am
AGRICULTURE minister Prof Adolf Mkenda has said that Tanzanians will be able to live their tripartite dream of eradicating poverty, industrialisation and closing the gap between the haves and have-nots by making earnest reforms in agriculture and increasing productivity.
He told reporters at the end of the Board of Directors of the Tanzania Fertiliser Regulatory Authority (TFRA) meeting that there is no better way of reforming agriculture except by increasing productivity.
Agriculture, he said, is a very strategic sector because besides producing food for the nation, it is important in making the industries grow.
About two thirds of Tanzanians are engaged in farming in one way or another, the minister said, explaining that despite that fact agriculture contributes below one third to national income while poverty remains a big challenge.
"As a ministry responsible for agriculture our resolve is to increase the farmer's income. However, that will only be possible when we shall succeed to effect reforms by increasing productivity," he said.
Prof Mkenda defined productivity as a union of harvests and human labour put in farming in order to get commensurate harvests. This, he said, includes research, use of right farm inputs and good use of extension services.
He called for continued research on fertilisers, seeds and soil health in order to make meaningful farming reforms possible, double harvests and shield the farmers from price-fall shocks, adding that if productivity will increase the farmer will use a small area but get bumper harvests and be able to shoulder the cost of living.
The minister said there has been a culture of increasing acreage when the price of a crop goes up. But, he explained, the truth is that Tanzania is able to double the current amount of cashew nuts produced in southern regions and eradicate poverty by effecting reforms and increasing productivity.
The minister said research shows that Tanzania produces 1.6 tonnes of palm oil crop per hectare while countries where Tanzania imports palm oil produce 10 tonnes per hectare.
"Let's continue research on fertilisers, soil health and superior seeds that will double harvests so that the farmer remains unaffected in the event of price falls for his produce," he said.
Source: Daily News