Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has reiterated its commitment to promote grape farming for the crop to bring tangible benefits to farmers.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa gave the assurance on Friday when he visited the Chinangali and Bihawana grape farms in Chamwino District in Dodoma as part of his ongoing tour to inspect the crop grown in the region.
He also urged farmers to consider mass production that would expand their market apart from the industrial need for wine making.
Mr Majaliwa went on to instruct the Executive Director of Dodoma City Council, Mr Joseph Mafuru to put in place arrangement for constructing irrigation schemes for the Bihawana grape farms.
According to the Premier, grapes produced in Dodoma are the best in making wine compared to those being produced in other parts of the country.
“Grapes farming have a greater contribution in boosting living standards for farmers in Dodoma,” he said, asking residents of Dodoma, including those in public and private sector to make better use of the opportunity.
“President Samia has instructed all farmers to be provided with all the support from the beginning to the end to ensure productivity and contribution of the crop to the national development,” he added.
According to the Premier, farmers have to be assisted from early stages that involve preparation of farms, seed accessibility, the needed agricultural inputs as well as search for markets.
For his part, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture Hussein Bashe said the ministry has started a process of reviving Chinangali farm by rehabilitating the drainage system.
This is done after the failure of the previous system. The Chinangali farm has 600 acres, of which only 300 acres are in use.
Mr Bashe noted that the ministry plans to produce 500,000 seedlings of grapes to be planted at Chinangali farm.
“The Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) Makutupora center has produced a large quantity of grape seedlings that will be distributed among farmers for them to embark on mass production of the crop,” he said.
For his part, former Prime Minister John Malecela, who is one of the farmers, asked the government to form an organization that will be monitoring the quality of wine being produced in the country.
Earlier, the interim chairman of grape farmers at Chinangali said they are well organized to ensure the project is sustainable for the interest of farmers and the crop at large.
“To ensure all the challenges are addressed we have put in place arrangements that will see all farmers pay for operational charges. The payment is done through the sales of grapes,” he added.
Last month, the Crop Development Director at the ministry, Nyasebwa Chimagu said they have started taking measures to improve production of grapes and wine brew in the country.
He said the efforts included inaugurating a special exercise that identifies all grape farmers in Dodoma region as well as their cultivation acreages.
At least 300,000 farmers have already been registered, and the exercise would continue to reach out to more farmers, said the director.
The focus, he said, was to ensure the farmers are empowered to adopt better agronomic practices, and improved technologies with an eye to raising production and yields in the cultivation.
“Despite being the hub of grape cultivation within the country, farmers in Dodoma are yet to fully use the available endowed opportunity for the production of the crop due to several challenges, we must now address,” he pointed out.
Mr Chimagu further said the program would also include implementing realistic initiatives, which motivate farmers to start producing bulk and quality yields, needed in the additional value chain of production.
