Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda
The government is intending to construct six big food reserves capable of holding 100,000 tons of cereals each.
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said this on Thursday when inspecting food reserves at Kizota area in Dodoma municipality as part of implementation of a promise issued two weeks ago that the government is intending to construct large food reserves in six regions.
A statement issued by Prime Minister’s Office yesterday in Dar es Salaam said that the construction of food reserves in the regions would be facilitated by a loan from the government of Poland through an investor effectively starting from January next year.
Speaking with regional leaders and officials from the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), Pinda said once there are larger food reserves accommodating 100,000 tons of cereals, grain needs in regions like Singida, Tabora and Manyara will be met.
In his tour the premier was accompanied by investor Witold Karczewski from Poland, who operates industries packing cereals, which Pinda visited when he toured the country on October 24. Karczewski also owns a factory manufacturing raw materials used for the construction of silos.
Delivering a report to the Prime Minister, the Central Zone director for the grain agency NFRA, Ruwaichi Mambali said that the Kizota centre has space for 30,000 tons in three areas, where each accommodates 10,000 tons of cereals.
For his part, Karczewski sought to know linkages of railway and roads infrastructure to Kizota and the vastness of the area in kilometers.
He said if he gets the site map on time, he would be able to send his experts to look at the possibility of starting construction work earlier.
On his arrival from Poland two weeks ago, the premier told the media that he had gone to seek for a strategic investor and a loan modality that would guarantee favourable conditions for repayments to enable the construction of food reserves.
He said the government has targeted six regions at the start which include Ruvuma, Njombe and Iringa where there is abundant production of maize crops, while pointing at Lake Zone regions as faced with food scarcity.
He further clarified that the government is strategizing the construction of food reserves in Dodoma region, being the centre of the country, to serve regions like Singida, Manyara and Tabora.
“The government aim is to get food reserves which can accommodate from 700,000 tons of cereals to 1,000,000 tons in total at any one time,” the premier said. The government has proposed to have larger food reserves or silos because these facilities are equipped with modern technological equipment that identifies what cereals are kept inside.
He said this year’s production of cereals has recorded 1.5 million tons, out of which 800,000 tons is rice, with a surplus of 300,000 tons upon what was recorded last year.
In view of this, the government is facing a challenge of getting reliable markets for the produced cereals, while the national food reserve agency as a prime purchaser is only capable of accommodating 240,000 tons per year, he added.
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said this on Thursday when inspecting food reserves at Kizota area in Dodoma municipality as part of implementation of a promise issued two weeks ago that the government is intending to construct large food reserves in six regions.
A statement issued by Prime Minister’s Office yesterday in Dar es Salaam said that the construction of food reserves in the regions would be facilitated by a loan from the government of Poland through an investor effectively starting from January next year.
Speaking with regional leaders and officials from the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), Pinda said once there are larger food reserves accommodating 100,000 tons of cereals, grain needs in regions like Singida, Tabora and Manyara will be met.
In his tour the premier was accompanied by investor Witold Karczewski from Poland, who operates industries packing cereals, which Pinda visited when he toured the country on October 24. Karczewski also owns a factory manufacturing raw materials used for the construction of silos.
Delivering a report to the Prime Minister, the Central Zone director for the grain agency NFRA, Ruwaichi Mambali said that the Kizota centre has space for 30,000 tons in three areas, where each accommodates 10,000 tons of cereals.
For his part, Karczewski sought to know linkages of railway and roads infrastructure to Kizota and the vastness of the area in kilometers.
He said if he gets the site map on time, he would be able to send his experts to look at the possibility of starting construction work earlier.
On his arrival from Poland two weeks ago, the premier told the media that he had gone to seek for a strategic investor and a loan modality that would guarantee favourable conditions for repayments to enable the construction of food reserves.
He said the government has targeted six regions at the start which include Ruvuma, Njombe and Iringa where there is abundant production of maize crops, while pointing at Lake Zone regions as faced with food scarcity.
He further clarified that the government is strategizing the construction of food reserves in Dodoma region, being the centre of the country, to serve regions like Singida, Manyara and Tabora.
“The government aim is to get food reserves which can accommodate from 700,000 tons of cereals to 1,000,000 tons in total at any one time,” the premier said. The government has proposed to have larger food reserves or silos because these facilities are equipped with modern technological equipment that identifies what cereals are kept inside.
He said this year’s production of cereals has recorded 1.5 million tons, out of which 800,000 tons is rice, with a surplus of 300,000 tons upon what was recorded last year.
In view of this, the government is facing a challenge of getting reliable markets for the produced cereals, while the national food reserve agency as a prime purchaser is only capable of accommodating 240,000 tons per year, he added.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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