GOVT REAFFIRMS FOOD RESERVE SUFFICIENCY

Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Eng Christopher Chiza

The country’s national food reserves are sufficient to meet any  shortages that might occur and local government authorities across the country have been instructed to conduct assessment of their food security with assurance of relief aid if need be.

The government directive comes in lure of the overshadowing prolonged drought in various parts of the country especially the Lake Zone.

In an interview with The Guardian yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Eng Christopher Chiza, reassured the country that the national food reserve has sufficient stock.

“Local authorities across the country are to make proper assessment of their food need…we have sufficient reserves to meet the needs of any district,” Chiza said.

“Due to on going global climatic changes harvests are not the same any more,’’ the minister acknowledged.

Chiza took the opportunity to advice farmers and district authorities to adapt to the changes and as an example he suggested that the lake zone ought to grow cassava and millet in adaptation to the whether conditions because these crops are much more resilient to the changes.

The minister condemned farmers who sell there crops before harvest saying it not only hurts them but also results in the loss of government revenue which would otherwise be earned across the value addition chain.

“This is not acceptable and we are going to be very harsh are going to take stringent measures because this is abuse of our farmer, it is exploitation and we will not put up with it…businesses soliciting farmers to sell before harvest will be dealt with,’’ he warned.

The minister reassured stakeholders that the government’s commitment to allocating 10 percent of its national budget to agricultural activities will be fulfilled.

In response to demand, over the past few months, the government has supplied over 23,000 tonnes of relief food to feed some 828,063 persons across 14 regions for three months.

About 82,755 people, equivalent to 10 percent of those in need are elderly and poor and have been supplied with 2,403 tonnes of free food and the remaining 774, 559 

“We normally supply relief food to cater for three months which is enough time between while harvests. ,” explains Karimu Mtambo, Director for National Food Security at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN