Kilimo Kwanza Issue 21

Tuesday 14 September, 2010

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SUPPORTING THE PROMOTERS OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION

Kagera: The private sectortakes irrigation seriously

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Tuesday 14 September, 2010

2 EDITORIAL

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Tarime: Ignorance costingfarmers their cows' livesIgnorance of some pastoral-ists in Nyaichoka village,Serengeti District, Mara re-gion is costing them lives oftheir livestock.An average ofseven cows are dying everyweek due to thirst.This is aresult of drought caused byinadequate rainfall which hasbeen forcing herdsmen totrek for about 20 to 30 km...

Assessing KilimoKwanza 1yr laterWhen launching the KilimoKwanza (Agriculture First)initiative in August 2009,President Jakaya Kikwetesaid although there may bechallenges in achieving theset goals towards realizingthe green revolution in thecountry, he was adamantthat nothing was impossibleunder the sun.

Farmers body forimproved seedsWe asTFA are ready to helpbut that is if the governmentis willing to support us. Cur-rently, the country is im-porting seeds from Kenya,Uganda, South Africa andZimbabwe but what if thesecountries have problems?

‘Why attracting agricultureinvestors to Tanzania is tough’One common saying in Tanza-nia is that which talks aboutagriculture being the backbone of the country’s econ-omy. Eighty per cent of thecountry’s population dependsentirely on agriculture andsince independence, a numberof policies and programmeshave been formulated in aneffort to develop the sector.

INaweek when Tanzania dropped 13 placesin this year’s Global Competitiveness Index(GCI) rankings, it was not interesting tolearn that public officials are finalizing ef-forts to re-float a tender to reclaim largeportion of oceanfront territory in Dar esSalaam.” A tender is about to be re-floatedin search of a credible investor to undertake

the so called ‘massive land reclamation project.’ Thereason given is that the Coastal DevelopmentCompany Ltd (CDL) had failed to fulfill the contractfor the past nine years.

CDL is operated by investors from Holland, SouthAfrica and Tanzania. They say that God made theearth but the Dutch made Holland. While land short-age was a major issue in the Netherlands, is it justifi-able in the local context? For the record, Tanzania hasabout one million square kilometres for a mere 40 mil-lion people. The Tanzania Investment Centre also re-cently announced that it has secured some 200,000hectares of land for investment in the land bank. Thisland was acquired at almost zero cost and without ex-tensive and expensive tendering processes that sap thelimited tax revenues available for development.

The proposed $180m dollars (TSH 270bn) Salamawaterfront project will cover what is currently perhapsthe smelliest and most polluted stretch of beach in thecountry. While the proposed site is prime beach prop-erty, it is by no means pristine. It will therefore be in-teresting to see how developers deal with theMsimbazi river and the city’s main sewerage lineswhose effluence flows directly into the ocean along theSelander Bridge and the Ocean Road area.

Perhaps someone somewhere thinks that our eco-nomic woes stem from an acute shortage of skyscrap-ers within the already overcrowded city limits? If thisbe the case then we can only speculate on the effects ofproposed reclamation on traffic along the already con-gested Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Ocean roads.

More pertinent however, is this the kind of projectwhatmajority of Tanzanians need or evenwant?Whatdoes the National Environmental ManagementCouncil (NEMC) have to say about the proposed en-croachment on land that although polluted, is un-doubtedly used as feeding and breeding land by fishand other marine life?

Shouldn’t we instead increase efforts into invest-ment into the dilapidated Tanga port for example?This will not only serve a majority of Tanzanians andopen up the region for increased investment, but willalso solve the problem of inefficiency of the country’sports which theWorld Economic Forum report cites asa major bottleneck in doing business in the country.

Or perhaps the improvement of our ports is not avery important matter because without a port, land-locked Rwanda which entered the GCI for the firsttime this year has ranked 33 places above Tanzania.Our competitiveness has also dropped to third in EastAfrica, behind Rwanda and Kenya. This drop is wor-rying in a period where the country is shuttling headfirst towards East African integration and a commonmarket where EAC countries are in competition for di-rect foreign investment. Investment competitivenessis one of the key factors determining who will reapma-jor gains in the common market.

Corruption, access to financing and inadequatesupply of infrastructure top the list of most problem-atic factors for doing business in the Tanzania. TheGCI report placed Tanzania 128th overall in the basicrequirement of infrastructure due to inadequate roadnetwork, inefficiency at ports, unreliable electricitysupply and telephone lines.

Shortage of adequate beach land does not featureat all in the list and we doubt that it falls under inad-equate infrastructure. With this in mind, perhaps abetter option is that we do something to charge up ourflailing electricity supply and telecommunication net-work which are also key factors affecting the country’scompetitiveness.

Moreover while there is a lot of talk about buildingsatellite towns and cities around Dar es salaam andother cities, aren’t we sending out mixed messages byencouraging increased congestion around the city lim-its? If success of the Salama project hinges on proxim-ity to the city centre then perhaps the disused formerTanganyika Packers lot at Kawe in Dar es Salaam of-fers a far better, cheaper and more realistic option forsuch an investment.

This stretch of prime land can easily accomodatethe envisioned hotel, offices, swimming pool, shoppingmalls, sports facilities and even beachfront develop-ments along the Kawe beach. It can easily be devel-oped at less cost and without causing unnecessary ad-ditional strain on city infrastructure. Such a projectmay also open up the rest of the city (Mbezi, Tegeta,Kawe, Mikocheni, Msasani and even the TPDF golfcourse) for investment and the fringe benefits of de-velopment.

Financing may not a problem in this case becauseto quickly attract willing takers the TIC may yet haveto put up half of the cost (TSH 135bn) and goodwillinto the land reclamation project. If this be the case,how about putting that amount into improving theroad network in the country? Or perhaps upgradingthe quality of our education system which the GCIranked 136th overall on enrolment in secondary schooland higher education?

Or perhaps better still, by seriously investing inagriculture, Kilimo Kwanza to be precise, perhaps thecountry can address the fourth pillar of investmentcompetitiveness, that of poor public health and inade-quately educated workforce. The challenges of crimeand theft, and corruption whose main source is pover-ty can also be addressed through Kilimo Kwanzawhich is the best and most sustainable way to getTanzanians out of unacceptable, abject poverty.

Uncoordinated investment and development poli-cies where the mouth says one thing while the righthand does something different that the left does notfully comprehend no longer have a place in this coun-try. It is time that we put our focus squarely in ad-dressing the real issues facing the country.

Ironically the issues that caused the drop in ourglobal investment competitiveness are also the sameissues that ordinary Tanzanians grapple with in theirdaily lives – a neglected health and education system,poor infrastructure, electricity, crime, corruption.

We do not want to argue the investment bottle-necks of the Salama project or reasons why the projecthas not taken off besides having allegedly been on thedrawing boards since 1990’s. What we are saying isthat there is a lot of land in this country, and theamount required to reclaim a handful of acres can bebetter invested, and profitably at that, in the ‘free’ landthat TIC is accumulating its land bank.

Wallace MauggoEditor

With abundant land, mustwe spend Tsh270bn to

get 200 acres?

Artwork & Design: KN Mayunga To have your organisation promoted in Kilimo Kwanza, Call: 0787 571308, 0655 571308 0754 571308

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA

POLICY


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By Staff Writer

One common saying inTanzania is that whichtalks about agriculturebeing the back bone ofthe country’s economy.Eighty per cent of thecountry’s populationdepends entirely on

agriculture and since independence, a num-ber of policies and programmes have beenformulated in an effort to develop the sec-tor.

But despite all the efforts, the sectornever performed well, the reason the gov-ernment adopted Kilimo Kwanza last year,prioritisng agriculture towards a Greenrevolution in Tanzania.

One of the suggested measures in de-veloping the sector today is mobilizing ade-quate private and public investment in thesector. And the Kilimo Kwanza strategy isa public-private partnership.

Tanzania has 44 million hectares ofarable land but only 23 per cent of this isused for agriculture. Private sector involve-ment in agriculture remains weak due topoor investment climate and business envi-ronment. Lack of long term finance at af-fordable interest rates is another reason.

According to a current Bank ofTanzania report, loans to the agriculturalsector amounted to only 10.4 per cent of thetotal loans to the private sector. The loans

are available at commercial rates rangingbetween 18 and 20 per cent and most ofthem are short term facilities for buyingand selling. Only 0.8 per cent of total lend-ing went to agricultural production.

In his paper presentation at the engi-neers meeting on Kilimo kwanza last week,the Executive Director of TanzaniaInvestment centre (TIC), Eng. Emmanuelole Naiko said one major factor that makesagricultural financing difficult is the use ofland as collateral. “This is because most ofthe land in the country is un-surveyed andunregistered,” said Ole Naiko.

According to him, only 1 to 2 per cent ofland in Sub- Saharan Africa is officially reg-istered. Ole Naiko said use of land as col-lateral should be accompanied by educationbecause such use should not be taken light-ly as it may lead to land dispossession.

The long term solution to this, OleNaiko says, is provision of long term loansto farmers. Another solution is putting inplace microfinance institutions like Savingsand Credit Cooperative Societies (SAC-COS) designed to finance financial productsand instruments tailored to specific needsof rural farmers.

Ole Naiko said for the country to realizea green revolution through Kilimo Kwanza,deliberate measures should be taken tomake it an agricultural led economy. “Anyeffort at economic growth that does not in-clude the agricultural sector will not suc-ceed,” Ole Naiko said.

According to him, Tanzania’s economy

cannot reach the growth rate of eight to tenper cent per year, the growth rate needed tohave a long lasting impact on poverty, with-out significant investment and improve-ment in agriculture.

He said efforts should be put together torealize Kilimo Kwanza in modernizing theagriculture by setting aside land requiredfor commercial agriculture development inevery one of the regions in the country.

Ole Naiko commended the regions thathave implemented the President’s directiveof setting aside land for commercial agri-culture and other investment purposes. “It’santicipated that the rest of other regionswill promptly implement the President’s di-rective,” said Ole Naiko.

He said competition to attract invest-ments was tough and real and thatTanzania must do what other countries aredoing to achieve this. He gave an exampleof how a small country like Malawi is ableto feed part of SADC and COMESA coun-tries. Tanzania could do the same if it cre-ated a conducive environment for invest-ment in the sector.

At a meeting with Saudi investors inAddis Ababa in April this year, countrieslike Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan,Somalia welcomed Saudis to invest in agri-culture in their countries after they ex-pressed interest to do so. These countrieshad set aside land for commercial agricul-ture.

Ole Naiko says Tanzanians at themeeting also promised enough land for

agricultural investment but were worrieddeep inside because they knew there wasn’tenough land set aside for the purposes asdirected by the Land Act No.4 of 1999.

“Currently there is only 200,000

hectares of land belonging to prisons andSUMA JKT who have asked TIC to marketthis land for foreign and local investors.”

This land has already been inspected bySaudi prospective investors who were re-cently in the country.

Tanzania is in the process of creating aLand Data Bank available for investors touse. Ole Naiko clarified on the misleadingallegations that individuals or villages willbe surrendering their land to TIC throughthe land bank saying; “TIC will not takeaway your land but rather help you getsuitable partners like we are doing nowwith SUMA JKT and Prisons.”

He said it is only after establishment ofthe Land Data Bank that the country canattract targeted investors from the MiddleEast, South East Asia, Africa, Europe andthe US.

Attracting investment to the agricul-tural sector is however facing one majorchallenge due to the recent global financialcrisis. The global Foreign Direct Inflows ac-cording to the 2010 World InvestmentReport declined from USD 2.2 trillion in2007 to USD 1.1 Trillion in 2009. This de-cline is expected to reverse in 2010 andstart picking up in 2012 to reach the levelsof 2008 at USD 1.8 Trillion.

The Foreign Direct Investment comingto Africa is still very marginal. It fell toUSD 59 billion in 2009 from USD 72 billionin 2007.

The FDI that has been going to agricul-ture globally has been only between USD 1

and 3billion per annum. The FDI coming toAfrica goes to oil rich countries first andthen to larger economies like South Africaand Egypt. Ole Naiko said because of this,the FDI inflow to countries like Tanzaniawhich was about USD 600 million in 2009is almost negligible.

Pointing out opportunities thatTanzania could use to attract investment inagriculture, Ole Naiko said he did not seewhy Tanzania should not use its vast waterresources plus its large tracks of idle fertileland to attract investment in the almost un-used irrigation opportunities.

“There is no reason why the countryshould not develop irrigation as an invest-ment opportunity by itself,” he said.

Despite being second in Africa afterDRC for large volume of water resourceswith all the rivers, lakes and numerousbasins and plains, Tanzania is only able toirrigate one per cent of its potential irriga-ble land of 29.4 million hectares.

For the country’s agriculture to have achance in a globalizing world, Ole Naikosays we need skills and change of attitude.He said Tanzanians can not compete by justbragging about having a lot of arable landproducing raw commodities. He says theremust be initiatives to undertake value ad-dition on agricultural produces alongsidewith commercial farmers augmented withsmall farmers.

It’s not the amount of land that thecountry has that matters but how that landis managed.

‘Why attracting agricultureinvestors to Tanzania is tough’

TIC chief Ole Naiko


4 COVER STORY

The General Managerof Kagera Sugar,Ashwin Rana explainsto the Guardian’sKilimo Kwanza AngelNavuri how a GreenRevolution is being re-alised using modern ir-rigation methods

The country’s vision of aGreen Revolution throughits Kilimo Kwanza initia-tive is fast becoming a re-ality in some places. TheKagera Sugar Limitedcompany in Kagera regionis one good example.

The Guardian’s reporters recently visit-ed the huge agro-industrial complex in thenorth-western part of Tanzania, and wereimpressed by the massive scale on whichagricultural development is taking place inthis remote region.

Clearly, this is one the most successfulagricultural projects on a commercial scalewitnessed in Tanzania. The company hasmade huge investments in agriculture andirrigation, a project that is now the pride ofTanzania.

Investment in a state of the art centrepivot irrigation system has enabled thecompany to produce more high quality sug-ar. The system that covers all sugar planta-tions has enabled the factory to increase itstotal yield per hectare from 50 tonnes perhectare to an average of 102 tonnes perhectare.

The harvesting of cane has also in-creased from an initial 200,000 tonnes inthe 2004/2005 season to 435,000 tonnes by2008/2009. The factory now produces over50,000 tonnes of sugar per year.

Current figures show that out of the es-timated 10 million hectares in Tanzania,less than 2 million hectares are under irri-gation. By taking advantage of its proximi-ty to the Kagera River and investing in ir-rigation, the Kagera Sugar factory is avoid-ing sugar cultivation that is dependent onrainfall which is sometimes unreliable.

Located around Lake Victoria, Kageraregion is characterized by fertile land andreceives rainfall throughout the year, thusmaking it favourable for agriculture.However, sugar cane cultivation is season-al, therefore forcing the factory to find newways of cultivating to meet local and exportdemands.

Learning from the 2005 drought thatseverely affected the agricultural sector inthe country, the company underwent mas-sive rehabilitation which involved signifi-cant additional investments to rehabilitatethe factory by increasing area under culti-vation and installation of the state of artcenter pivot irrigation equipment coveringhectares of land.

Land developmentAlready, 10,000 hectares of land is cov-

ered by a green blanket of sugar cane, andwe witnessed a huge fleet of modern agri-cultural machinery clearing land at a rapidpace for further expansion of the planta-tions.

Bulldozers initially clear the bush andflatten the myriad ant hills, before comput-erised land plane machines laser level theground, followed by ploughing and ridgingon a scale never before seen in East Africa.Over 1500 hectares of newly establishedcane is added to the estate every year.

The new and latest technology is em-ployed to make the most economical use ofthe land, facilitating efficient irrigation anddrainage for maximum production. Thishas been achieved through high definition,infra-red Lidar aerial surveying, followedby GPS and Laser technology used to pre-pare and level the land, install drainageand irrigation canals.

Centre-Pivot Irrigation SystemsIrrigation Manager Moruo Laizer says

the modern irrigation system is manage-able, doesn’t lose water and in case of break

down, it doesn’t need international expertsto come and repair it but local people canhandle it as long as they are involved dur-ing installation.

Laizer said Kagera has the largest cen-tre-pivot installation in sub-SaharanAfrica, covering 4000 hectares of sugarcane. The system comprises of pump sta-tions on the Kagera river which feed a net-work of massive underground pipes thatcover the sugar cane fields. Over 100 km ofunderground piping has been installed onthe estate ensuring water availability atthe flick of a switch. These in turn feed theautomated centre pivots that irrigate thesugar cane 24 hours per day throughout theseason, ensuring optimum growing condi-tions and high yields.

The modern state of the art systempumps water from the Kagera River, trans-forming the area into a luscious green beltproducing over 120 tonnes of sugarcane perhectare. The company is already expandingthe irrigation infrastructure by installingfurther 42 pivots during this season to cov-er a further 3500 hectares of land at a costof 20bn/-. This will be followed by a further25bn/- investment next year to encompassthe remaining area under cane.

Sugar ProcessingCane is crushed in the factory at the

rate of 120 tonnes per hour, 24 hours perday for 9 months of the year. The process isextremely environmentally friendly with allby-products utilised to ensure no wasteproducts remain. After extraction of thejuice from cane, the fibre is used as fuel inhigh pressure boilers to produce steam torun the turbo-alternator sets, hence gener-ating 3.4 mega watts of electricity for facto-ry use. The company also shares this powerwith the immediate community around thefactory. Although this power does not fullymeet the power demand, it has reduced de-

pendency on the national grid electricity.Themud removed from juice processing

is returned to the field, replacing the nutri-ents taken from the soil and all excess wa-ter from the plants is pumped back to thefields as irrigation water.

The final product, sugar, meets theTanzania Bureau of Standards exactingstandards and is distributed to consumersthroughout north-western Tanzania andinto neighbouring countries of Uganda,Rwanda and Burundi. The factory recentlyreceived an award of recognition by EastAfrican Community (EAC) countries as oneof the main supplier of sugar in the EastAfrican market. Kagera sugar also targetsCongo and Southern Sudan as its next ex-port markets.

The increase in EAC member statesand benefits of the EAC common marketare expected to give Kagera Sugar a strate-gic entry advantage within the region.Presently the company exports up to 25% ofits produce and sells the remainder withinthe country. Domestic demand is estimatedat 420,000 metric tonnes per annum, most-ly within the Lake Zone which isTanzanian's largest market segment.

Cane harvesting and transportEveryday, 3000 tons of sugar cane is

harvested and transported with a huge fleetof tractors and trailers from the field to thefactory. This operation is carried out 24hours per day to ensure that cane is alwaysdelivered fresh before any deterioration cantake place. The company has invested 3bn/-in cane transportation in this year alone tohandle the ever-increasing tonnage of caneproduction.

The company has a permanent staffforce of 2000 workers with a further 2000unskilled labour utilized at cultivating andharvest time. This generates income withinthe community. During cultivation the

Kagera sugar growthe ultra modern w

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA

COVER STORY


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company builds camps to accommodate theunskilled labour. The company also con-tributes to social responsibility by buildingschools, health centres and providing ex-pertise and medicine, roads and investingin residential housing.

Outgrower DevelopmentWe visited the farms of outgrowers at

Kagera Sugar and the chairman of theKagera Sugarcane Outgrowers Association,Mr Annas Swaibu told us how the develop-

ment of cane outgrower farms has pro-gressed rapidly due to the extension sup-port given to the outgrowers by KageraSugar Limited.

The support, he said has been in theform of use of tractors and ploughs, supplyof seed cane, technical advice and guaran-tees for loans taken by outgrowers. This hashad a positive effect in the local communi-ties, generating wealth, and alleviatingpoverty.

ChallengesThe biggest challenge that the company

faces is failure by local producers to meetdomestic market demand. This gives thegovernment authority to import sugar re-sulting in price fluctuations. For example in2009/2010 over USD 60million was spenton sugar importation to offset the local pro-duction deficits.

Other challenges include rehabilitatingfactory capacity and expanding the totalarea under plantation. Building new capac-ity and equipment on limited budgets alsoposes a big challenge.

Furthermore the expectation of in-creased plantation areas under irrigationmeans that cane output will soon exceedthe factory's crushing capacity.

The company now desires to de-bottle-neck the factory by investing in equipmentthat will increase cane output to 200 tonnesper hectare or 1million tones of cane annu-ally

One of the main constraints of industri-al development in Tanzania is shortage offinancial resources and trained personnel.Large investors require sound financialservices to maximize production and profit.

The company therefore calls on the gov-ernment to increase support and subsidy onagricultural inputs. There is a need to in-crease higher learning institutions with theaim of increasing experts in the sector.

Kagera sugar appreciates the govern-ment's focus on agriculture as the key sec-tor in the country’s economic developmentthrough Kilimo Kwanza. The company be-lieves that these efforts will increase bothindividual and national income and con-tribute towards improving the quality of lifefor everyone.

Future DevelopmentsThe Kagera Sugar project is already

one of the most successful agricultural proj-ects in the country.

The General Manager, Mr AshwinRana, says more than 180bn/- has been in-vested in the project since privatizationmainly in agricultural and irrigation infra-structure as well as in the factory rehabili-

tation and expansion.Rana says in line with the Kilimo

Kwanza strategy, Kagera Sugar has en-sured that only the best agricultural prac-tices and procedures are implemented.

“The use of modern technology such asinfra-red aerial surveying, laser levelingand state of the art centre pivot irrigationsystems ensures that the most efficient useis made of our land and water resourcesand that optimum yields are achieved,” hesays.

In the current year the investment of 20billion shillings in additional irrigation in-frastructure will cover the entire easternpart of the estate, an additional area of ap-proximately 3500 hectares.

This will be completed by June of nextyear, after which the next investment of afurther 25 billion in irrigation infrastruc-ture will result in a total of over 12,000hectares under fully irrigated cane.

In parallel with this, the company is in-vesting in a further 37 billion shillings to

expand the crushing capacity of the factory,to handle all the additional cane.

The net result will be that by 2012Kagera Sugar Limited will have the abilityto grow and to process 1 million tonnes ofcane to produce 1,000,000 tonnes of sugarannually.

In short, we can confirm with confi-dence that Kagera Sugar Limited is con-tributing significantly to the success of theKilimo Kwanza green revolution and willcontinue to do so for many years to come.

wnway

By staff writers

Whenlaunching theKilimo Kwanza(AgricultureFirst) initiative inAugust 2009,President JakayaKikwete said al-though there may

be challenges in achieving the set goals to-wards realizing the green revolution in thecountry, he was adamant that nothing wasimpossible under the sun.

“The challenges may be vast and seem-ingly difficult to implement yet it can, andshould be done. We must play our part,” hesaid.

How far has the Green Revolution beenembraced by the Tanzanians all over thecountry? Is every one playing their part, in-dividuals in their own capacities as well asinstitutions depending on assigned tasks.

Some government offices have playedtheir part and there is hope that it will meetit’s set objectives towards achieving a greenrevolution within the anticipated timeframe. The whole process of implementingTanzania’s Green Revolution is projected tobe completed within ten years.

Experts have it that the implementa-tion of the green revolution in Tanzania is aprocess. “Thus, each aspect or recommen-dation will be triggered at whatever appro-priate time it may be required to reinforcethe implementation of other components ofthe process,” said Dunstan Mrutu,Executive Secretary of the TanzaniaNational Business Council (TNBC) in a pa-per presentation at an engineers meeting todiscuss the role of engineering and technol-ogy towards the success of Kilimo Kwanzalast week.

To start with, a political will is neededin realizing agricultural transformationand this is Kilimo Kwanza’s first pillar. Thepolitical will is there and the president hasplayed his part by setting the ball rolling.

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said inan interview recently that the fourth phasegovernment has made an effort in promot-ing agriculture by introducing theAgricultural Sector DevelopmentProgramme (ASDP) in 2006.

“We all know that you cannot speakabout agriculture without involving othersectors like education, finance, water, infra-structure or industries. You will need mon-ey to finance agriculture for instance, so youcannot isolate it from other ministries. Theministries are there to complement eachother,” said Pinda.

He said it had been long since the coun-try had sufficient food and that that waswhy the government thought it was hightime it prioritised agriculture by coming upwith the concept of Kilimo Kwanza.

“This means that much as we need topromote other sectors, the agriculture sec-tor must be given extra attention so that atthe end of the day, Tanzanians should notgo hungry,” said the prime minister.

He said throughout his regional visits,he has been urging both party and govern-ment leaders to be exemplary by cultivatingtheir own farms according to the principlesof crop husbandry.

He said ASDP has placed new initia-tives with strategies and plans for imple-mentation to ensure that Tanzanian farm-ers improve their crop production. Thesame goes for the livestock keepers andfishermen.

The second pillar of Kilimo Kwanza fo-cuses on modernizing and commercializingagriculture for medium and large scale pro-ducers with emphasis on productivity andtradability.

The prime minister recently said at theAfrican Green revolution Forum in AccraGhana that KilimoKwanza, which is a pub-lic private partnership initiative brings to-gether investments and private sector inno-vations to mobilize the huge agriculturalpotential of the southern highland regionsof Tanzania into commercially viable agri-cultural production clusters of small, medi-um and large scale enterprises.

He said the goal is to reach 2.5 millionfarmers and that the government was wellon way to achieving this.

In July this year, Tanzania joined otherAfrican countries that have signed theCompact for the Comprehensive AfricaAgriculture Development Programme(CAADP) as a shared framework to acceler-ate growth of the agriculture sector, reducepoverty and food insecurity.

Pinda said to unlock the agriculturalproductivity potential of its farmers andachieve food security, Tanzania has initiat-ed a new initiative together with theAlliance for a Green revolution in Africaand other stakeholders to implement BreadBasket Investment Plans in selected areasin the country.

The areas according to Pinda have al-ready been selected based on their suitabil-ity for food crop production and their poten-

tial for increased production and productiv-ity.

“All the preparations for the initiativeshave already been put in place and the im-plementation is scheduled to start inOctober 2010,” he said.

Kilimo Kwanza’s second pillar partlytalks about allocating not less that 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture in2010/2011. The budget allocation this fi-nancial year increased to 8.1 per cent in the11.1trn/- budget which is a clear sign of thegovernmet’s commitment to revamp thesector.

According to Pinda, the aim is to helpwith the transformation from subsistencefarming to commercial farming.

The government is also encouraging theuse of the country’s water bodies for irriga-tion instead of only depending on the coun-try’s unreliable rainfall. This is why thebudget for irrigation infrastructure has in-creased eleven times from 2bn/- in 2009/10to 23bn/- this financial year.

These funds are for the rehabilitation oftraditional irrigation schemes; making fea-sibility studies in order to expand irriga-tion farming in the regions that have ap-plied for the funds.

The total potential area for irrigationdevelopment in Tanzania is estimated to be

29.4 million hectares but only 1 per cent ofthis is currently under irrigation.

Establishing the Tanzania AgriculturalDevelopment Bank (TADB) is another partof Kilimo Kwanza’s second pillar and

the establishment of the bank is under-way. President Kikwete recently said whenclosing the Nane Nane farmers’ fair inDodoma, that the government has set aside50bn/- for the purpose.

The main aim of starting a farmer’s

bank, the president said is to make surefarmers are independent and can accessloans more easily. Access to loans will en-able them mechanise their farming by us-ing power tillers and tractors instead of us-ing the hand hoe. This will help farmers toplant timely and reduce the time used onother farm operations;

Establishment of the bank will alsolead to establishment of agro–processingindustries for value addition to farm pro-

duces which will in turn increase farmers’incomes and marketing opportunities.

Another effort in financing KilimoKwanza was having a special window atthe Tanzania Investment bank (TIB) forconcessionary lending for agriculture. TIBis encouraging small farmers to mobilisethemselves and form groups so as to obtainloans from the bank, but the requirementhere is for farmers to have title deeds.

TIB’s manager for Small and MediumEnterprises Benjamin Mazigo told KilimoKwanza that without documentation oftheir land, TIB shall not be able to deal withthe farmers.

“So the ball is back in the government’scourt to ensure farmers have documenta-tion for their land,” he said

Apparently, Kilimo Kwanza has nowreached a stage where the participation ofthe ordinary farmers cannot meaningfullygo forward until they acquire documenta-tion for their land. President Kikwete him-self has repeatedly called upon farmers tosecure documents of registration for theirland. According to the Lands ministry ICTchief, Elias Nyabusani without documents,farmers cannot access institutional fundingfor increasing productivity and yet most ofthem are cultivating very small pieces ofland due to lack of equipment.

Nyabusani told Kilimo Kwanza recent-ly that they have started in earnest to sur-vey land in the country, especially those ar-eas where farming is taking place with aview to issuing the bona fide farmers withtitles to their land. That way, the farmersshould be in a position to present the titlesas collateral to the banks where they seekloans for capital.

This is not an easy task because 89 per-cent of the land in Tanzania is not yet sur-veyed.

The whole countrymeasures nearly onemillion square kilometers. A total of 44mil-lion hectares are suitable for agriculturebut only a few of these are being utilised,far below their optimum potential.

Documentation for some nearly twohundred thousand hectares is being fasttracked through efforts of the Tanzania in-vestment authority and the PrimeMinister’s Office for depositing in the LandBank from where large scale commercialfarmers shall access them.

Just like the president said whenlaunching Kilimo Kwanza, achieving agreen revolution in Tanzania does not gowithout challenges. It may take longer thananticipated but with each one of us playingtheir part, we will definitely get there.


6 ASSESSMENT

Assessing Kilimo Kwanza 1yr later

TIB’s manager for Small andMedium Enterprises Ben-

jamin Mazigo told Kilimo Kwanzathat without documentation of theirland, TIB shall not be able to dealwith the farmers

““

President Kikwete launching Kilimo Kwanza,Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, Agriculture Min-ister Stephen Wasira, TNBC’s Dunstan Mrutu

By Miki Tasseni

NEWS about the coffeeindustry in the coun-try is beginning to looklike a hospital card onmalaria patient devel-opments, or classicalfever that could bemalaria or without it.

A variety of fever caused by a bedside para-site has typical phases of intensification andcooling down – without for once the patienthaving started to heal, and that looks like itresembles coffee. On one day the news is ex-cellent and one believes it is the crop of thefuture, and on another day all is bleak,peasants are tired, slashing coffee trees allover.

If reporters – for usually they rely onbureaucrats for interpreting events – wereto ask officials of the Tanzania Coffee Boardor any curing company, the answer wouldmost likely include something like the needfor ‘education’ on this or that aspect. It is notby any chance conceivable to a board officialthat slashing coffee trees is rational actionon the part of a farmer, in which case ‘edu-cation’ has been lacking either about prices,or how to reduce costs on the farmer’s part.There would usually be no problem withpolicy.

Education is an excellent formula on thepart of bureaucrats at two levels, first ithelps to show that between them and thefarmers (or other claimants at whatever lev-el of policy or consumer contention) it is thefarmers (or consumers) who are wrong.Secondly, as such an issue would be of sub-stantial public interest, when decision mak-ers realize the need for ‘education’ in this orthat sector, it helps bureaucrats to havetheir budgets raised. Their action in that di-rection is chiefly psychological, that peas-

ants should bear with the policy, or help tostem other interpretations that could comeinto view, against authorities.

An example of lack of ‘education’ whichleads to political disloyalty occurred farback in 1968, when prices of rice were al-ready beginning to show a keen differencebetween this side of the border (in Same dis-trict, at that time Pare district) and the oth-er side, in Kenya. Peasants in places likeKihurio or Gonja who farm plenty of ricetook to selling to taking the rice to the bet-ter for better prices, infuriating district au-thorities and at higher levels, who rein-forced police controls on border ‘panyaroutes.’ Peasants reacted by writing lettersthat insulted the topmost authorities in thecountry, hence some arrests occurred.

These letters were cited in news reportsfrom brave correspondents in Arusha andaired over BBC, Deutsche Welle and TaifaLeo Daily Nation newspapers, and hotly de-nied in Dar es Salaam. A case was thus filedin court for fabricated reports likely to causepublic disorder but district authoritiesfailed to prove their case so it was dis-missed, but with a certain amount of insta-bility and worsening of ties between the twocountries having been noticed. In thatsense, instances of coffee being smuggled

across the border to Uganda or Kenya, orbeing cut down in Tarime or elsewherearen’t just local matters but nationwide.

What has always been interesting froma strategic point of view is why Tanzania isin all instances a bad payer from producers,and thus constantly loses crops in raw formas well as precious minerals to the neigh-bours, who are capable of offering accept-able prices for those who take the cropsthere, or minerals. Is it a psychological fail-ure that our officials or leaders don’t mindwhat prices are paid, or there are differentscales and pricing sense between us and ourneighbors? Why must Tanzania be a per-petually bad buyer of crops? Can this by anychance be considered a matter of standardsor is it systematic dishonesty?

That is why it is interesting to try andfigure out which strand shall win in what istaking place in the coffee industry at pres-ent, where the positive news is the prepara-tion of a series of new variety seeds by theTanzania Coffee Research Institute(TaCRI). This has started to bring about aplanting revolution in many parts of thecountry, as the new seeds require less timeto grow and bear fruit, are resistant topests, and despite that their sizes are oftensmaller, their yields per acre and per tree

are often in multiple to the previous. On thewhole the new seed varieties remove mostpesticide needs so they are economical.

Ordinarily only this good news shouldhave been aired, and the rest would by nowhave been taken care of, namely coffee cur-ing, processing and marketing arrange-ments. As it appears, there is still plenty ofexperimentation going on, or adamantlymaintaining some old structures with vari-ous layers of authority retaining traditionalprerogatives like the issuing of coffee pur-chasing permits on an annual basis, orrather seasonal basis. This sort of privilegeis meant to keep private purchases on shortleash, allowed only if there is no pressingneed on the part of the public sector to stopthem – for instance if the price rises.

What seems to be the case is that whenworld market prices fall abysmally and offi-cial buyers can’t pay a reasonably tolerableprice to peasants and make their own endsmeet – and can’t receive a substantial sub-sidy from the government, they step back.They allow private buyers (or middlemen)to purchase the crop, knowing that only amarginal surplus will be available, and suchbuyers have the environment to reducetheir own costs to bare minimum, whichcrop boards and cooperatives can scarcely

muster. When prices rise to an appreciablelevel, they bring it to ‘normal,’ remove themiddlemen, frustrate growers.

That is what was lately happening inTarime, a volatile district on the easternshores of Lake Victoria, where peasants aresaid to be slashing coffee trees by the hun-dred, after the board removed ‘their compa-ny,’ Rogers and Man Ltd that was purchas-ing coffee. All produce is now expected to besold to Mara Coffee Ltd, whose price offeredto peasants is rock bottom. One way thecompany succeeds in paying minimally forthe crop is to disparage that the crop is bad-ly stored, is of poor quality etc – which does-n’t have to be true since other buyers pay amuch better price for the same crop; give adog a bad name.

Given the fact that the district is also fa-mous for its bhang-cultivation habits, and itis inclined to a minimum of violence whenits income earning sources are disturbed,the monopoly that public authorities wishMara Coffee Ltd to exercise – to protect itfrom Kenyan competition, etc – is strategi-cally ominous. When this alternative to cul-tivating bhang becomes untenable as an in-come source, and most people see bhang asthe more viable crop, keeping the peace willbe problematic as even the police will be cor-

rupted. Monopoly strictures amid globalprice declines disrupt the social fabric; peo-ple tire out.

In these days of electoral contests, itwould also be interesting to see the mecha-nism taken so that private buyers MajogeGroup and Rodgers and Man Ltd had theirlicences withdrawn, while Mara Coffee Ltdworks with one Hamil Hamza to purchaseall the coffee in the district. Things like thatdon’t just come out of nowhere but are care-fully organized, with a neat sharing ofspoils, which ordinarily would be of interestto polling analysis, as to what local issuesdrive politics in a particular area. Tarime isinteresting in that regard because it votedChadema in 2005, the MP died in a suspi-cious car crash, and his Chadema successorfailed to win the preference vote and is notslugging for CUF – while expressing loyaltyto Chadema. What give and take thuscomes up between the local decision mak-ers, the ruling party and local councilors isquite interesting, within the backstage ofpolicy confusion nationally, where selling toKenya is ‘economic sabotage.’

The Tarime situation is a typical case of‘old habits die hard,’ that despite trappingsof crop sector liberalization going back to1986 or 1988, nothing has fundamentallychanged since the public sector buyers orprocessors weren’t disbanded, merely shornof total power. They work with regulatorsand in such a way they are the regulatorsthemselves, as regulators first react to in-terests of public firms or bodies – when theyfail regulators seem to relax and allow freemarket instruments, and when they areconfident they can do the job socialist mo-nopolies creep back. Nor have structures ofthe East African Common Market changedthings as they cover movement of goodsacross borders – without prior reconciliationof liberalization at border movement leveland inwardly, at the local level.

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZATuesday 14 September, 2010

7IMPLEMENTATION

Farmers body for improved seeds

Research uplifts coffee industryprospects, regulations ruin it

The country has for along time been unableto meet its seed de-mand and has there-fore been importingseeds from neighbour-ing countries. TheGuardian’s AngelNavuri interviewedthe Managing Directorof the TanganyikaFarmers Association(TFA) F.W. Wanganjuon the matter andwhat he thinks shouldbe done to improvethe situation.

QUESTION: There has been a highdemand for seeds because the countrycan not produce enough.Why is this soand can TFA help solve the problem?

ANSWER: There has been a shortageof seeds and it will continue until we plantour own seeds. We as TFA are ready to helpbut that is if the government is willing tosupport us. Currently, the country is im-porting seeds from Kenya, Uganda, SouthAfrica and Zimbabwe but what if thesecountries have problems? This means wewon’t be able to farm anymore. Every coun-try that succeeded in seeds had good sup-port from the government. The governmenthas to play its part for the private sector tocome along. The government should leadthe way.

Vegetable seeds are so many, which wealso import but we need to supply ourselves with a minimum of 50 percent of theseeds needed. At the moment, we can onlyproduce 10 percent only. We need to be ableto produce our own seeds. There are in-stances when farmers want to plant butthey find they have run out of seeds. Astrategic plan is needed to be brought in aproper ICT commercialized system.

QUESTION: Is TFA ready to trainfarmers so they may be able to pro-duce enough seeds?

ANSWER: We can only assist thefarmers produce the best quality productsbut not training. Our main projection is to

facilitate farmers to acquire farm inputsand technical advice. We should encourageour farmers to produce more.

QUESTION: Farmers have beenproducing more than enough but notallowed to sell. What’s your commenton this?

ANSWER: The moment you encouragea farmer to produce more, no one shouldstop them from selling. A farmer should beable to sell and because they can’t get mar-ket as individuals, they should be assistedto get market. There should be an enablingenvironment to enable farmers sell theirmaize. We need people to import.

QUESTION:Most of the agricultur-al technologies are too expensive for acommon farmer to afford. What’s yourcomment on this?

ANSWER: Speaking of affordable tech-nology, there are certain technologieswhose price is not easy to reduce for exam-ple a tractor. You can’t reduce the price of atractor for an ordinary farmer to afford.Instead the government should find a wayto encourage farmers to share the tractorsbecause a farmermay have two hectares forcultivation which he can pay for to becleared. But since they can’t afford it, thegovernment should subsidize the tractors.Agricultural institutions should be in the

forefront to advocate for cheap technologies,for example the money maker pumps andthe maize sheds that are tied on a bicycle.President Jakaya Kikwete was right whenhe urged suppliers to bring cheap technolo-gy but we must wake up for the success ofKilimo Kwanza. Tanzania can feed thewhole of Africa.

QUESTION: Any Advise to the gov-ernment on Kilimo Kwanza?

ANSWER: Under Kilimo Kwanza,Tanzania should prepare itself for the EastAfrican Market by enabling the farmers tosell their produce more often. This is the“Farmers’ Pride”. Tanzania has good re-

sources that anything can be grown in thiscountry. We should start feeding ourselvescompletely and then feed others.Tanzanians are hard working people, andit’s only a matter of organizing farmers andgiving them technological advice. We alsoneed experts to advise the government onmarketing.

QUESTION: Any challenges facingTFA?

ANSWER: We have strived to concen-trate on our sales to attain our budget.However we have faced several challengesand although our performance has wit-nessed impressive improvement and

growth over the previous year, we have notbeen able to fully attain our budget. This ismainly because the budgeted Minjingu andother fertilizer sales could not be achieved.Greatly improved sales of maize seeds werenot sufficient following a shortage duringthe planting season.

The Trading Division recorded sales of3.2 bn/- which were slightly higher than thesales of 3.0 bn/- recorded in the the previousyear.

This was however 39% lower than theambitious budget of 5.2 bn/-. Exemplaryperformance was demonstrated by branchmanagement at Mbeya, Karatu and Babatiwith exceptionally high sales at more thandouble the previous year and above theirrespective budgets. Sales at Iringa andNjombe branches were far below projec-tions.

The Property Division continued to dowell with rental revenue rising from413.m/- in the first half of the previous yearto 541.3 m/- which was also higher than thebudget of 489.4m/-.

The overall operating profit for the sixmonths at 106.8 m/- favourably comparedwith the previous year’s operating loss of100.8 m/- but was lower than the budgetedprofit of 132.7m/-.

At a meeting held on 26th June 2010,the Board considered the large disparitiesbetween the budget and actual sales, re-volving around sales of fertilizers especiallyat Iringa and Njombe branches and re-solved that so as to avoid distortions and tofacilitate proper monitoring in the remain-ing half of the financial year, budgets forthe remaining six months be adjusted to re-flect the reality on the ground.

The branch net work changed slightlyas the Tarakea sub-branchwas closed downon 15th April 2010 following several yearsof loss making and a new branch opened itsdoors at Morogoro on 1st May 2010. TheMorogoro branch was officially opened on7th May. The well attended function whichwas also witnessed by all the TFA directorswas also used to officially launch the par-ticipation of TFA inKILIMOKWANZA andto commemorate 75 years of our existenceand service to the Tanzania farming com-munity.

The Company's major objectives andactivities include procurement, supply anddistribution of agricultural inputs, includ-ing farm machinery, livestock supplies andthe related backup services; - purchase,storage and marketing of agricultural pro-duce.

TFA has established ambitious plansfor its long term success founded on theneeds of its shareholding members,Tanzania’s farmers and the wider commu-nities in this country.

TTFA members at a functionin Morogoro recently

By Bhoke Msama, Tarime

Ignorance of some pas-toralists in Nyaichokavillage, SerengetiDistrict, Mara region iscosting them lives oftheir livestock. An av-erage of seven cows aredying every week due

to thirst. This is a result ofdrought caused by inadequaterainfall which has been forcingherdsmen to trek for about 20 to30 km in search of water and pas-tures for their animals. But allthis is happening partly becausethese pastoralists ignored the ad-vice by livestock extension officersto construct a dam at a cost of4m/- as measure to overcome theproblem.

“It’s true that livestock exten-sion officers advised us to con-struct a dam…we called upon vil-lagers do contribute about300,000 per household, but mostrefused…so we could not proceedwith the plan,” said MwitaMachungu, a pastoralist for over10 years adding that, “most of usown more than 200 cattle…but asyou know pastoralists here arenot ready to sell their cattle in or-der to get money to solve thisproblem.”

A survey done by this journal-ist revealed that although pas-toralists have been reluctant tocontribute the money for the con-struction of a dam, one head ofcattle sells between 300,000/- and500,000/-.

“We can not contribute such abig amount of money while wehave our own natural sources ofwater. Well, the river far from thevillage but they think it’s impor-tant to build the dam, then let thegovernment do so” said WamburaChacha one of the pastoralistswho refused to contribute themoney. But there are people likeMwita who contributedmore thanthey were asked to contribute.Mwita contributed 1m/-. “I amvery disappointed with my com-munity for refusing to contributeon the project…its not ignorance,but foolishness that will cost thelives of our cattle,” complainedMwita.

Statistics from theMinistry ofDevelopment show that Tanzaniais the third country in Africa with18.8 million cattle after Ethiopiaand Sudan.

By Lazaro Felix

Are you one of those people who don’t be-lieve that animals, just like human beingshave rights? Well, you are very wrong. Thefact is they do. And there are people outthere who spend their precious time advo-cating for animals’ rights.

They do so because there are people outthere who mistreat animals. People whogive them less food or make them go forsometime without food, those who feedthem on left- overs, and people who over-work them to mention but a few.

The Tanzania Society for thePrevention of Cruelty to Animals (TSPCA)’Executive Secretary, Johari Gessan saysanimal cruelty in Tanzania is a big problem

that is practiced all over the country.Explaining how animals suffer in the

hands of human beings, Gessan refers tothings like mal-treatment during trans-portation, feeding, hunting and preparationof land for cultivation.

According to her, domestic animals likecats and dogs which are usually friendly tohuman beings suffer the most.

The animals’ rights activist says ani-mals kept for commercial purposes are usu-ally given limited supply of food as a way tominimize costs which is unfair.

She says even the type of food given tosome domestic animals leaves a lot to be de-sired. Cats and dogs in most cases are giv-en left-overs, according to her.

But, Adam Ngamba is surprised thatthere are people who subject their livestock

to cruelty. He gives an example of theSukuma people where he originates sayingthey normally take good care of their cattlein the same way they do to fellow humanbeings.

Elaborating on the harsh conditionscows face during transportation to the mar-ket and pointing at a picture depicting thesame in her office, Gessan says cows arenormally packed in a vehicle like sardinesin such a way that it becomes difficult toturn their heads. And when one falls acci-dentally, the others just step on it.

This results into some cows reachingtheir destinations with bleeding or brokenlimbs. Some even lose consciousness.According to scientists, overcrowding caus-es shortage of oxygen and high productionof carbon dioxide which leads to suffocation.

Gessan says in most cases, when ani-mals are transported they are never givenbasic needs like water and food. She refersto this as cruelty because thirst and starva-tion could lead to death.

Onewonders whether livestock keeperswho subject their livestock to this kind oftreatment expect to get much in return?For it’s like expecting a big harvest from apoorly tended farm.

Elias Miko who keeps poultry does notbelieve much in unfair treatment of ani-mals during transportation saying it is toorisky since he has seen those doing so put totask. He wonders how people can do thatknowing very well what would become ofthem as a result.

On starving the animals during trans-portation, Miko thinks it’s not practical to

feed the animals while the vehicle is in mo-tion. “You know they just accuse us of mis-treating animals but we feed them and takethem to the veterinary officers before sell-ing them,” he explained.

Drawing an example from developedcountries and in an effort to end cruelty toanimals, TSPCA has been sensitizing thepublic through media like radio, television,magazines, newspapers and brochures.

A special program to sensitise the pub-lic all over the country is underway. TSPCAwill start with Dar es Salaam, Tanga,Shinyanga, Mbeya and Dodoma regions be-fore going to other areas. The programmemainly targets women and children whoare said to be more animal-friendly.

Because of the NGO’s efforts, a lawagainst animal cruelty was passed in 2009.

According to Gessan, the law is yet to be en-forced since people have to be given educa-tion on the animals’ rights first.

“The enforcement of the law will offi-cially start in 2011after the program hasbeen introduced and well communicated tothe public,” Gessan says.

But are the targeted people aware ofthe existence of the NGO, the law and thefact that animals also deserve to be valued?Isaack Slayo, a livestock keeper is oneamong hundreds of people who are notaware of these. He has never heard of theNGO’s sensitization campaigns. Neitherdoes he know it exists. However, comment-ing on animal cruelty during transporta-tion, Slayo says some animals are so deli-cate that they need extra care during trans-portation lest they died.


8 NEWS

Tarime: Ignorance costingfarmers their cows' lives

Atomic Energy,a solution

to poor foodstorage

The animals too have a right to decent treatment

Endangered cows at Tarime

By Lazaro Felix

The problem of crops rotting and inhibited growth of plantsthat small farmers in Tanzania have been facing could be re-solved by having proper utilization of atomic energy in agri-cultural production.

This was said by the Director of the Nuclear TechnologyDirectorate in the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission,Firmi Banzi in an interview with The Guardian.

Banzi said atomic energy has been greatly used to supportagricultural mechanization in respect to storage, life span ofthe crops and safety of food.

He said this energy has been approved to increase produc-tivity by radiating the seeds to change the genes that werelikely to be inactive and making them active, the function ofthis energy in this area is to kill the bacteria that cause seedsto rot.

Farmers can use atomic energy to increase seed mecha-nism which will then accelerate to more yielding of crops sincecurrently some farmers still face the problem of using seedswhose mechanisms are low.

“There recently has been production of more animals inTanzania as a result of atomic energy which helps in artificialinsemination. Animals produced using this technology haveproved to be of more efficiency,” said Banzi.

According to Banzi, atomic energy in Tanzania has beenused in wheat and banana breading in Arusha and rice bread-ing in Zanzibar.

Talking about the use of energy for crop storage especiallythe perishable fruits like bananas, oranges, tomatoes, onionsand other perishable crops to stay longer, it is done by killingthe possible virus that could cause the crops to decay.

“It is even possible for perishable crops to stay for monthsand even one year provided that they are well radiated,” he ex-plained

He said, this kind of storing crops is not only efficient interms of life span of fresh crops but also a safer and healthiermeans of keeping food as it has been proved to be free fromchemicals and yet does not change the taste of food.

Pointing out the areas that have been benefiting from thistechnology, Banzi said, Ghana, Zambia and South Africa areamong the African countries that are utilizing atomic energyto support farming.

He said although the technology seems expensive, it willbe possible to introduce in Tanzania in three years to comesince the raw materials are abundant in Tanzania.

According to New Uranium Mining Project-Africa websitehttp://www.wise-uranium.org/upafr.html there are ongoingprojects in parts of Tanzania involving uranium activities.According to this website, Tanzania has at least 54 millionpounds of Uranium oxide deposits

Areas with ongoing projects include Manyoni Project for-merly Bahi Project which was given to Uranium mining com-pany Uranex and it was in 2009 given a go ahead by the gov-ernment to mine uranium and Mkunju River Project underMantra Resources Ltd of South Africa was given the go aheadto mine the uranium.

Either it is estimated that Tanzania farmers lose 40% ofthe crops harvested in different parts of the country due topoor storage facilities, according to the Director of NationalFood Security in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Securityand Cooperatives, John Mngodo.

At Dar es Salaam’s Tandale Market, fruit vendors havebeen complaining of making a loss due to poor storage facili-ties. The new technology therefore comes as a savior to farm-ers and traders who have been incurring losses due to lack ofproper storage facilities.

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Kilimo Kwanza Issue 21