Tanzania: Better Farming to Ease Poverty

THE Government is focused on improving the agricultural sector in a bid to ensure it contributes more to the envisaged reduction of poverty in the country.
Addressing delegates that included local farmers who attended the launch of 'Farmers' Poll and Do Agric Petition' on Tuesday, President Jakaya Kikwete said Tanzania is among 10 fastest growing economies in the world. However, the rate of poverty reduction is not the same as economic growth.
Mr Kikwete attributed the slow reduction of poverty to the sector's slow growth rate which is currently at four per cent. He said that according to the statistics released recently, 28 per cent of Tanzanians are poor most of whom live in the villages and depend on agriculture.
"So if we improve agriculture, we will also improve the pace of poverty reduction in the country," he said.
President Kikwete told the farmers and other delegates that the agriculture sector contributed 27 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 30 per cent of the country's foreign currency is from agriculture.
He said its contribution to GDP has gone down while other sectors' contributions have been going up, which is the trend in the world. "This doesn't mean the production has gone down...not at all. The trend around the world is that the service sector such as the tourism sector is taking over in contributing to the GDP," he said.
He added that the agriculture sector in the country faces a number of challenges that have contributed to its slow growth rate.
These include over dependence on hand hoes, dependence on rains, use of traditional seeds that do not provide good yields, low use of fertilisers and lack of modern farming skills.
"We are committed to developing the agriculture sector and getting solutions to the challenges is our priority in the government. We already have in place mechanisms to address these problems," he explained.
He said that the government has been funding research programmes in a bid to develop modern and more productive seeds that provide more yields.
The government will also employ more extension workers to equip farmers in villages with modern farming skills.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Eng. Christopher Chiza, said the government recognises the sector as the cornerstone for the economy. It provides income to more than 70 per cent of the population.
He said successful transformation of the agriculture sector depends on the farmers who are the farm managers.

Written By ROSE ATHUMANI

Source@DailyNews