THE Agricultural Seeds Agency (ASA) has embarked on a programme for the restoration of soil fertility in its seed estates to boost production.

Dr Sophia Kashenge, ASA chief executive officer (CEO) unveiled this over the weekend in an interview said that the agency was currently working on several strategies to increase seeds production level to at least 9000 tonnes annually.

"In order to achieve the set seeds production target, we have realized the need to restore soil fertility in our seed estates, including removing soil acidity, the development which we remain optimistic about that will automatically help to push for increased seed production pace," she said.

According to her, the agency has so far procured several cloud-connected soils testing machinery (soil scanners) in readiness to undertake the vast project professionally.

"We have been annually performing soil health testing exercises in all of our seed farms to determine the proper type of fertilizers necessary to be used in each farm," she briefed.

Dr Kashenge said that ASA has already found proper bidder for handling a special tender for the distribution of agricultural limes to the seed estates under soil infertility and acidity challenges, added: “The seed farms in need of agricultural limes include Kilangali, Mbozi, and Dabaga farms.”

She said during the 2022/2023 agricultural season the agency managed to surpass the projected seed production levels as set under the Tanzania Food Systems Resilience Programme (TFSRP).

During the season, 2022/23 ASA planned to produce at least 6,000 tonnes of seeds from its all seed estates, but successfully, it raised a total of 7,600 tonnes.

The $300 million worth programme, Tanzania Food Systems Resilience Program (TFSRP) is for results and is financed by the International Development Association (IDA), and it works to support the implementation of three result areas under the government's wider Agriculture Sector Development Programme II (ASDP II).