Africa-Press – Tanzania. SYOVA Food Production and Distribution Company has launched a special program to train Tanzanian farmers and agricultural stakeholders at large on on various techniques gearing at boosting production in the agricultural sector.
Syova, formerly known as East African Seeds Ltd, is one of the largest seed-producing companies in the country with the capacity to produce cereals such as maize and sorghum, sunflower, vegetables and fruits such as watermelon and hybrids.
Speaking over weekend at Kileo village in Mwanga District in Kilimanjaro Region, the company’s Marketing and Sales Officer, Mr Godless Pallangyo said the aim of the program was to build the capacity of the stakeholders so that they could discharge their duties professionally and efficiently.
“We have launched this program after realizing that without agricultural education, our farmers cannot produce productively and have been wasting their resources and incurring losses,” said Mr Pallangyo.
Syova’s Manager, Mr Sammy Wanjiru unemployment employment problem is a challenge in low-income countries hence the company will keep on providing education to boost productivity, a move that will attract more young people especially educated one to engage in farming activities.
Earlier, a watermelon growers, Mr Nzuki Omari said the cultivation of vegetable and fruit crops can be a sustainable way of addressing youths unemployment challenge facing the country.
“For example, I personally have been cultivating watermelons for more than 20 years now and this work has enabled me to educate my children up to university level, owning a modern house and sustaing my daily daily bread,” he said.
The farmer has been a role model and owns a 20-acre melon farm with modern irrigation infrastructure and employed over 20 young people.
“When I started this farm I faced many challenges….substandard seeds but when I opted for hybrid sugar seeds F1’ production rate increased and I started to make a lot of profit, ” he added.
Meanwhile, he said that with the training he has received from Syova and the use of modern sugar seeds F1 the production of watermelons increased. Now, he can harvest watermelons weighing from 10kg to 15kg per fruit.
Regarding the market for the melons, the farmer said there is a sufficient market in Arusha and Dar es Salaam regions and neighboring cities of Nairobi and Mombasa.
“We call on our government to improve trade relations with our Kenyan neighbors, because we are all interdependent, Kenya is a market for many products produced by Tanzanian farmers,” he added.
