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Nine regions named as national granaries
2008-07-25 10:14:12
By Guardian Reporter, Dodoma
The government has announced that it has identified nine regions and two districts as the country`s ``granaries``.
The move is viewed as a fresh bid to ensure food security by facing up to the challenges posed by the global food crisis.
Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives minister, Stephen Wassira made the announcement here yesterday when winding up debate in the National Assembly on his ministry`s 2008/09 budget estimates.
He named the regions as Arusha, Iringa, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Mbeya, Morogoro, Rukwa and Ruvuma.
He said the regions, together with Tarime District in Mara Region and Sikonge District in Tabora Region, would be ``adequately equipped and facilitated with supplies of fertilisers and quality seeds``.
``The food to be produced in these areas will be for feeding the whole country, not just specific regions or districts. The move will be aimed at making the entire country benefit,`` explained Wassira.
He said the government had identified the areas as part of a short-term strategy to help the country have enough food for the people.
The minister also declared that the ban on the exportation of foodstuffs remains in force, noting that was important ``especially at this time when Tanzania and nations around the globe are keeping, not letting out, food``.
He named some of the countries whose food stocks were far bigger than Tanzania’s but which had deliberately chosen to stop exporting food.
According to Wassira, the ministry was taking the measures to save the country from a recurrence of nasty experiences of the past like the 2006 food crisis.
``This is a short-term strategy… As yet, we don’t have a policy of restricting food exports as such…All we are doing is to save our people from hunger,`` he pointed out.
``It`s not our intention to stop our farmers from selling foodstuffs abroad…But what`s of greater consequence for us right now is to produce more food,`` he added.
The minister had earlier assured the House that the government would invest more heavily in agriculture over the next few years to make the sector become more efficient and productive.
He said the government had in recent years invested substantially in the quick-result sectors like tourism, telecommunications and mining, ``which our development partners had recommended that we concentrate on``.
Wassira was optimistic that the agricultural sector would register noticeable progress by 2010 in line with the World Bank-backed initiative dubbed ``Agriculture for Development``.
Under the initiative, Tanzania is set to benefit from supplies of fertilisers and quality seeds.
Responding to concern by MPs that the government was dillydallying on the establishment of an agricultural development bank that would support agro-financing for small-holder and big farmers, the minister said the facility would be set up ``step by step``.
``You will recall that President Jakaya Kikwete announced during his just-ended tour of Tanga Region that there will be a special `window` dedicated to taking care of the agricultural sector at the Tanzania Investment Bank,`` he said.
The House endorsed the ministry’s 133.7bn/- budget estimates yesterday afternoon. A total of 20bn/- is allocated to the implementation of development projects and the rest to recurrent expenditure.
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