Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) is expecting to spend 1.2tri/- to facilitate the implementation of various key projects in the 2025/26 fiscal year.
This substantial budget will facilitate the construction of new grain storage facilities, the establishment of specialised mechanisation centres, purchase of cereals from farmers and the digitisation of service delivery, among other initiatives.
NFRA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Andrew Komba told the `Daily News’ during an interview that the amount to be spent comes from the state coffers and from the agency’s own sources.
A primary goal for the NFRA in this fiscal year is to expand its grain storage capacity from the current 776,000 tonnes to at least 1.1 million tonnes, he said.
To achieve this, the agency plans to construct new storage towers and rehabilitate existing dilapidated ones. This infrastructure development will cost 36.3 billion shillings, provided by the central government.
Renovation of the dilapidated grains towers, he said, will impact the warehouses of Kipawa in Dar es Salaam and Mazwi in Sumbawanga.
This, he said, will enable NFRA to create a new space of cereals reserve to the tune of 60,000 tonnes.
“Preliminary works for the project, including layout and environmental impact assessment is currently taking good shape at various areas across the country where chunk land has been amassed for construction of the facilities,” he said.
He said the NFRA also plans to launch a food security bonds scheme to diversify its funding sources.
This strategic financial maneuver aims to raise at least 490 million US dollars from local and international donors. These funds will be critical for maximising grain purchases and ensuring large-scale, safe storage, thereby bolstering national food security.
“Drafted papers for the food security bonds are currently undergoing final approval at a few relevant government circles,” Dr. Komba stated. “If all goes well, we’re expecting to launch this helpful scheme in the near future.”
With these bonds, the agency intends to erect additional silos and warehouses in Tanzania’s southern highlands, adding another 300,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity.
Dr Komba said NFRA plans to spend 800.6 billion Tshs to procure 800,000 tonnes of maize and 150,000 tonnes of paddy, alongside other tonnages of legume crops, sunflower, and sugar, in the upcoming cereals purchasing season set to begin later this month.
“Earlier next week, possibly on Monday we’re expecting to release to the public centres where grains purchasing season will be taking place,” Dr Komba informed.
A significant new development for this year’s purchasing season is the adoption of a special digital food tracking system, he said.
“We’ve opted to adopt this advanced cloud-connected system to standardise our services and improve efficiency and reliability,” he explained.
This system, which moves the NFRA away from manual work, will be instrumental in stock management and processing grain purchases by issuing goods received notes (GRN) to farmers.
“Apart from fast -tracking services delivery, the target is to assist us to ensure transparency and effect monitoring and management of state funds,” he insisted.
He added, NFRA regarding to this season’s grains purchasing, the agency has established the standards and criteria for purchasing grains to ensure a reliable market for crops.
And the grains to be procured include white maize, millet and rice, whereby NFRA has already provide clear procedures and guidelines to ensure a reliable market for businesses.
As per the set procedures, businesses seeking an agreement with NFRA must meet specific criteria, including possessing a valid tax clearance certificate and the capacity to supply at least 2,000 tonnes of white maize, white millet and/ or rice.
Traders and farmers who do not meet the criteria for selling their grain at NFRA warehouses will still be able to sell their crops through the main NFRA warehouses or new purchasing centres to be opened by the agency, provided they have an agreement with NFRA.
Currently, the NFRA operates 72 purchasing points across eight regions: Dodoma, Dar es Salaam (Kipawa), Njombe (Makambako), Songwe, Rukwa (Sumbawanga), Arusha (Babati), Shinyanga and Songea. These locations collectively can reserve 750,000 tonnes of grains.
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