The Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Mr Stephen Wasira andMrs Sophia Kaduma, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Food security and Co-operatives.
TANZANIANS have been assured of food availability as the
country has surplus amounting to 3.2 million tonnes following the bumper
harvest recorded in the last farming season.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and
Cooperatives, Mr Stephen Wasira, told reporters in Dar es Salaam that in
2013/2014 season, the country’s total harvest hit 16 million tonnes while
annual demand stands at 12.7 million tonnes.
He also announced that the government was currently
distributing food to all hunger-hit regions, insisting that relevant
authorities were fully prepared to serve all residents with food shortage.
Mr Wasira noted that as per food availability assessment
conducted in August, last year; the market was oversupplied, making prices in
many areas to go down.
Detailing the harvests, the minister said that 9.8 million
tonnes were cereals and the remaining 6.2 million tonnes were non-cereal crops.
“In short there is food stability. We surpassed the target
by 25 per cent, availability of food in all markets is promising,” he said,
adding that even prices remained consistent in many parts.
He stated that only some few regions, which are Lindi,
Dodoma, Mara, Tanga and Kigoma, had a bit higher prices for both maize and rice
compared to others.
Mr Wasira said that the government, through the National
Food Reserves Agency (NFRA), had planned to purchase about 200,000 tonnes of
food but due to heavy harvests, over 300,000 tonnes had been bought.
“As of this month, NFRA has purchased 305,408 tonnes of food
from farmers, which is equivalent to 153 per cent of the target,” he noted.
Mr Wasira noted further that so far, there are 441,316
tonnes of food reserved in various NFRA zonal centres. He explained that as of
April 8, this year, about 88,910 tonnes whose value stands at 44.9bn/- that
were purchased were yet to be paid.
He, however, noted that the Treasury has already released
some 101.5bn/- out of 109.6bn/- set for purchasing grains and NFRA operational
costs.
“Apart from the amount released by the Treasury, we have
also received 35bn/- loan from CRDB Bank and another 15.5bn/- from World Food
Programme (WFP), being payment of food they bought from the agency,” he noted.
Mr Wasira expounded further that the government had released
20bn/- for paying farmers and allowed NFRA to sell 100,000 tonnes of maize from
its stock to clear the remaining debt.
Previewing food availability in 2015/2016 season, the
minister said it is expected that 15 regions will have sufficient food while
the remaining 10 will not record good harvest.
“There are some regions that have not received enough rains
as you know that our agriculture largely depends on rainwater.
This will also affect food production in such regions,” the
minister noted. He mentioned the regions, which are likely to record poor
harvest in 2015/2016 season as Dodoma, Singida, Manyara, Tabora, Shinyanga,
Simiyu, Geita, Mwanza, Mara and Lindi.
To address the looming food shortage in such regions, the
minister said that the government will continue empowering NFRA and Cereal and
Mixed Crop Board to improve their activities.
He added the NFRA will also be allowed to sell 100,000
tonnes of maize to local traders and millers and supply food to such regions
which are likely to be battered by hunger.
According to Mr Wasira, the regions currently getting relief
food are Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Shinyanga, Simiyu, Tabora, Mara, Kagera,
Lindi, Mtwara, Morogoro, Singida and Katavi.
“We allocated 13,630 tonnes for these regions in the period
between July 2014 and May, this year. As of April 8, this year, 7,560 tonnes
have been released for distribution,” he affirmed.
Commenting on the public schools, which have been recently
closed for lacking food, the minister said that any businessperson supplying
food to any school would be given priority, provided they communicate with the
ministry “I heard that such schools were closed because suppliers had yet to be
paid and not that the country has no food.
I just want to assure the general public that we have enough
stock neither do we expect any shortage at this time,” he remarked.
Source : The Daily News
