Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Ministry of Agriculture will continue to strengthen the mobile Kilimo system (M-Kilimo), in attempt to address the shortage of extension officers, so as to reach farmers across the country.
This was revealed by Deputy Minister of the portfolio Hussein Bashe, who expressed his satisfaction with the new platform, saying it will help push the agriculture sector forward.
He said the M-Kilimo platform, which is coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture was the implementation of President SamiaSuluhu Hassan’s directive on the identification of farmers.
Mr Bashe said so far through the M-Kilimo System, already 1,979,662 farmers and 6,840 extension officers have been registered and are now able to share the knowledge, skills and solving the existing challenges facing the farmers.
The deputy minister said the target is to register about six million farmers through their households, a step that will help identify and deliver extension services to enable improved agricultural productivity.
Commenting on the importance of the system, MrBashe told reporters that the system will also help to evaluate the work of extension officers in their operational areas.
“So far, a total of 7,792 farmers’ inquiries have been received and answered by the extension officers through the M-Kilimo system,”Bashe said, adding that the ministry expects to open a call center to respond to farmers’ inquiries more swiftly.
He added that in order for the ministry to be able to serve farmers, it was necessary to identify them and know where they are, which is why, it introduced the M-Kilimo system.
“In the 2021/22 budget, the ministry plans to train extension officers, so that they can help farmers increase their output,” said Bashe.
In another development,Bashe named Morogoro (153,977), Njombe (153,158) and Mara (148,772) as the regions with highest numbers of the farmers registered in the system, while the Coastal region (14,784 farmers) and Mtwara (28,000) are the regions with the lowest enrollment in the system.
Bashe called on council directors in the country to enable their district extension officers to register and encourage farmers to join the M-Kilimo system.
M-Kilimo System Coordinator Rajab Mkalange said the system is technologically advanced help farmers access extension and marketing services through inquiries on cell phones.
He added that since its inception earlier this year, the system is reaching many farmers in the country.
For his part Head of Systems from the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), John Kajiba said his institute conducted research in the Kagera and Mara regions on the needs of farmers in extension services. They found that farmers who had been reached by extension officers have rapidly improved their yields.
