Anticipated agricultural revolution to inject 14trl/- into economy

FIVE leading cash crops in the country are anticipated to contribute more than 13.6tri/- to the economy by 2020/2021, as the government, business community and financial institutions commit to ensure massive agricultural revolution, value addition and marketing both locally and internationally.

Making a brief note during a meeting that brought together stakeholders in the cotton sub-sector, which was chaired by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa in Mwanza recently, the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Dr Charles Tizeba, said the massive income will be realised following new strategies in revamping cultivation of cotton, tea, coffee, cashew nut and tobacco.

The Minister said the secret behind that anticipation is hinged upon mobilisation of farmers to adapt to modern farming practices, emphasising on timely application of fertilisers, insecticides and extension services, while keeping fingers closed for the weather to remain favourable and predictable.

“We have made simple calculations basing on the ongoing strategies within the g o v e r n m e n t machineries, agricultural stakeholders and the farmers reaching to the anticipation that we will gain massively from the five top crops in the very near future,” said the Minister. Citing cotton which was the main cause for the Thursday meeting, Dr Tizeba said this season, more than 600m kilogrammes of harvests were anticipated up from around 140m kilogrammes for last season, if again the weather remains friendly.

He pointed out that to maintain sustainability in reviving cotton; special directives have been issued to the Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB) and the Registrar of Cooperatives to make sure all enabling infrastructure are directed to the task.

Leading the meeting, the Prime Minister said he decided to meet cotton stakeholders so that the tripartite involving the government, cotton buyers and financial institutions can brainstorm and reach a common agreement on how best they can cooperate to receive the bumper harvests of cotton this season, for the good of the economy and welfare of the farmers at large.

The PM took the opportunity to announce various declarations which include the reinstatement of the sound and vibrant primary cooperative societies whose set up will be ready by March, this year.

“We have decided to strengthen the re-establishment of the cooperative unions, whose administration will now be closely overseen by the government to avoid past mistakes,” he said. Other issues were payments for cotton, which willcheque and contrary to the past when dealers were paying lump sum in cash, as well as allowing the contract farming system until the end of this season.

According to the Prime Minister, the primary cooperative societies will now be tasked with the collection and storage of cotton from farmers and that dealers will not be allowed to buy the crop direct from farmers as it was the case before. On the new cotton price, the Premier said the matter has been put on hold until April, this year, when another meeting will be held for final deliberations, ahead of the beginning of the marketing season in May.

The Chairman of the cotton dealers association, Mr Christopher Gachuma, said the dealers were happy with government’s commitment in seeing a winwin situation in the business, saying they were ready for the new season. He said the ginners were equally ready for the anticipated bumper harvests, thanking the government for abolishing past cumbersome practices that lagged the precious ‘white gold’ behind.

At least 12 banking institutions attended the meeting, stamping their commitment in providing loans and consultancies to dealers to facilitate the entire production, marketing and value chain.

Among the delegates was the Minister for Finance, Dr Philip Mpango, who challenged the financial institution to remain supportive to the whole cotton development strategies by providing loans.