Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIA has managed to sustain food security especially when the Covid-19 scare was high globally.
When many countries were facing food shortages as a result of implementing lockdown to contain the disease, Tanzania had plenty of food in its reserve, enough to feed its population in comparison to other countries in East and Southern Africa.
This was said by Eastern and Southern Africa Small-scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF) Coordinator for East and Southern Africa, Joseph Mzinga in an interview with the Daily News, adding: “During that time mainly from early last year, Tanzania still sold food crops to countries facing shortages like Malawi and South Sudan.”
He attributed addressing the situation to the bravery President John Magufuli showed, saying: “President Magufuli was firm and asked people to take precautionary health measures, but work. “President Magufuli repeatedly told Tanzanians not to consider lockdown, because its repercussions are worse and would aggravate the situation.”
Currently the ESAFF in collaboration with University of the Western Cape (South Africa) and Ardhi University are conducting researches in South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania on food situation, under the sponsorship of International Development Research Centre (IDSC).
“However, we are grateful that despite the challenges of food security facing other African countries during the Covid-19 scare, Tanzania was self-sufficient and it decided to sell its food surplus to other countries,” said Mzinga.
The Coordinator further said the objective of the research is to inform policy makers at the national and international levels, so that they put in place a better food security system and eliminate food insecurity in the future.
“Sustaining food security will also help in the fight against malnutrition and stunting, where there are millions of children in Africa suffering from the problem, for instance, Tanzania stunting statistics is 30 percent. “The research will also involve visiting major food markets in the regions especially for crops like grains, fruits, fish and meat,” said Mzinga.
Apart from helping the country to preserve its food stock, he said this year, there will be a major UN summit on food systems for African countries, adding that Tanzania will be given a platform to tell others how it goes about addressing food insecurity.
The Coordinator noted that the research that started in September last year will go for a year and expected to be completed in September this year, adding: “It will come up with strategies on how African countries should strengthen their food security systems.”
Equally, Mzinga cited Mwanza, Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Shinyanga, Dodoma and Mbeya as regions, where the study will be carried out.
