AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Chairman of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation, Ms Angelina Ngalula, yesterday appealed to Tanzanian youth to rise to opportunities presented by the horticultural sub-sector of the economy in order to transform their lives and create jobs for idle hands.
Ms Ngalula made the appeal when he visited the horticultural farms of smallholder farmers in Mazombe village, Kilolo District, Iringa Region, and praised the young farmers for employing themselves by growing fruits, roots and vegetables.
“The horticultural industry has many opportunities that will create direct jobs for young people, especially women. The foreign market for our fruits and vegetables is huge, especially in Europe. All that is needed is to produce a lot of crops and send big regular shipments to those markets and earn foreign currency,” she explained, urging young people to value horticultural production and transform their lives.
The biggest challenge, she said, was to transform the mindset of our farmers so that they shift from traditional to market-oriented farming.
“Young people must go farming. They will employ themselves and get disposable income,” she argued.
Thrilled by what she saw at Mazombe, the chairman promised to send experts from the Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA) so that the enterprising young farmers could observe husbandry and harvest quality crops for export markets.
TAHA has presence in Iringa Region and also in Mwanza, Arusha, Manyara, Dodoma, Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Morogoro, Njombe, Coast, Dar es Salaam, Mtwara, Lindi Regions and in Zanzibar Regions.
TPSF, she said, would sustain positive dialogue with the government to ensure policy and regulatory frameworks supported the horticultural industry.
She appealed to young women to form productive groups to be eligible for loans and other services.
The chairman of Mazombe Horticultural Farmers Group, Mr Hassan Ally, said the group needed TPSF help to get loans to increase production.
“We know the market is there and we have land. But we lack capital to produce in a big way. We shall be grateful if the TPSF shall link us to financial institutions and get the loans we need,” he told the chairman.
One of the young farmers, Mr Alex Msumile, supported Ms Ngulala’s sentiments, saying farming created paying jobs for determined youths but also said they were lacking markets for their products.
