PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has called for comprehensive participation of the international and local private sector to re-envigorate the agricultural sector which has not been performing since independence.
The appeal immediately received a positive response from the American Ambassador, Mr Alfonso Lenhart, who on behalf of development partners funding agricultural activities in the country assured the president of continued support to address the needs of farming communities and that of the nation at large.
The Acting Country Director of the World Bank, Mercy Tembon, also expressed the readiness of the global institution to work closely with the government to reach rural households and help them raise income through efficient agriculture activities.
Addressing more than 200 delegates at a two-day forum on the Tanzania Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plan in Dar es Salaam on Friday, President Kikwete said that application of modern farming techniques should bring farming communities on board.
"Since the early days of independence agriculture remained a national priority. Famous slogans like "Agriculture is politics" dominated to signify people's as well as the government's commitment to increase productivity.
"But the biggest challenge was dependence on rainfall with erratic performance patterns," Mr Kikwete explained.
From agriculture, he added, we get food and a good source of foreign exchange earnings. We had a vibrant textile industry. Intervention by the private sector in a sustainable should focus on irrigation agriculture, distribution of high yield seeds to farmers, application of enough fertilizers and control pests.
He gave an example of Vietnam and Indonesia that received technical and financial support from the International Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and appointed Japan to back up the development agricultural development project.
"It is possible for Tanzania to mechanize agriculture and eradicate poverty by 2025. But farming communities need skills, increased yield per unit area, added value to the harvest and commensurable returns for the sweat and labour expended.
More extension officers have been deployed to villages to provide services," President Kikwete elaborated.
Commenting on market reforms, the president cautioned against collusion among traders who opposed directional prices determined by the government, as some were inclined to exploit farmers under the pretext of 'unprofitable' prices.
"Transformation of agriculture from the present 4.2 per cent annual growth to six per cent will lift up millions of lives. Let the international Private Sector be part of the local private sector to help small-scale farmers adopt progressive farming techniques," he said.
Earlier, the Deputy Minister for Finance, Pereira Silima and Zanzibar Minister for Lands, Housing, Water and Energy, Ali Juma Shamhuna both expressed the governments' commitment to supporting agriculture through co-operation with development partners to attain true revolution and food security for the country.
They declared national determination to open doors for substantial level of investment to the sector, with implementation currently underway through "Kilimo Kwanza" initiative.
Agricultural growth corridors have over the last years been launched as high-profile initiatives to increase agricultural production in Africa. These 'corridors' are presented as value-chain mechanisms and as means to promote an African Green Revolution.
The government recently developed an Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) and its operational programme (ASDP), whose objectives are to achieve a sustained agricultural growth rate of 5 per cent per annum, through the transformation from subsistence to commercial agriculture.
The transformation is to be private sector led through an improved enabling environment for enhancing the productivity and profitability of agriculture, facilitated through Public and private partnerships with participatory implementation of the District Agricultural Development Plans (DADPs).
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