Katavi Regional Commissioner, Dr Rajab Rutengwe
The government has said that the current programme of Big Results Now (BRN) targets to increase extra maize production by more than 100,000 tonnes by involving 400,000 smallholder farmers in commercial agriculture.
The initiatives will also increase additional rice production up to 290,000 tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of sugar by the year 2015/16.
Speaking on behalf of agriculture Minister yesterday at the celebrations to mark the national World Food Day at Kashaulili grounds in Mpanda District, Katavi region themed, ‘World Food Day is family farming, feeding world, caring the earth,’ Katavi Regional Commissioner Dr Rajab Rutengwe said a total of 25 large scale commercial farms for rice and Sugarcane crops will be established in order to reach the target production.
He said the implementation of such plans will also see 78 agricultural irrigation schemes being set up including the construction of 275 warehouses for food crops storage.
On his part, the agriculture Deputy Permanent Secretary, Raphael Daluti said the state of food for the year 2014/15 shows that production will be 16.02m tonnes out of which 9.8m tonnes will be cereal crops and 6.2m tonnes for non cereal crops.
“Food requirement for Tanzanians for the year 2014/2015 stands at 12.8tonnes with more than 3.3 million tonnes in surplus. Maize production is 6.7m tons, rice production is 1.7m tons with the surplus on cereals being recorded at 1.7m tonnes and 1.6m tonnes for non cereal crops” he said.
He commended farmers in Katavi Region for their valuable contribution to surplus food production in the country saying their efforts has helped to improve food nutrition.
On his part, World Food Programme (WFP) representative, Said Johari said the 2014 report on the state of food insecurity in the world asserts that the total number of hungry people in the world is down by 37 million to 805 million.
“This shows that progress is possible when governments, humanitarian organizations and private sector come together to make lasting change” he observed.
FAO representative to Tanzania, Diana Tempelman explained that currently the whole world is fighting against hunger as there are still some 75 million people facing food shortages.
She said that deliberate efforts that include political will, implementation of different agricultural programs, indulging the participation of communities and family farming must be put in place to address the problem.
“It is true that family farming must produce their own food, and for the urban population. This means that they will need income, money for buying inputs, and meet other community’s demands such as paying for education expenses, medical service and construction of good settlements” she said.
Apart from Katavi regional authorities, the celebrations were also attended by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives, political parties, representatives from different local and international organizations.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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