AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has announced that the palm tree farming across the country will formally start this October.
He says individuals and groups willing to start growing the plant should prepare their farms and will be given initial seedlings free of charge.
“The government is determined to ensure that the sub-sector is highly promoted, in order to free ourselves from the huge expenditure we are currently burdened with to import palm oil from abroad,” he said, adding: “If we make breakthroughs on that front, we will become self-sufficient and stop importing the product.”
Mr Majaliwa expressed the sentiments yesterday after inspecting a palm tree seedlings’ farms run by the Kigoma Ujiji Council and Bulombora National Service, as part of his Kigoma regional tour.
The premier also directed the Kigoma Regional Commissioner, Retired Brigadier Emmanuel Maganga to ensure that Bulombora National Service is allocated land that it had requested for expanding palm tree farming.
Mr Majaliwa said Tanzania won’t import palm tree seedlings abroad but produce its own locally instead.
“We currently have 1.8 million seedlings, and our experts are continuing with their efforts to produce seedlings locally,” he said, adding: “The seedlings constitute the backbone of the region’s economy, and so much efforts should be invested onto it.”
He stressed that the 2015-2020 CCM manifesto cites the consolidation of palm tree farming as one of the important goals that, once attained, the agricultural sub-sector should then spread to other parts of the country.
He said the research centre for the crop was initially in Dar es Salaam, but the government reckoned that this was inappropriate and decided to have it shifted to Kihuinga in Kigoma Region, to which experts were also relocated.
Mr Majaliwa furthermore urged agricultural officers to equip farmers with skills relate to the sub-sector, plus guiding them on how to uproot the old seedlings and replace them with new ones.
The prime minister reiterated the government’s call on wananchi to adhere to protective safeguards against Covid-19, but reaffirmed that the rate of infections had dropped.
Meanwhile, Deputy Agriculture Minister Omar Mgumba, thanked Mr Majaliwa for the initiatives.
“We spent 10.8bn/- shillings on the exercise, and this is part of President John Magufuli’s initiatives,” he remarked.
On his part, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence and National Service, Dr Faraji Kasibi, reiterated that the ministry would continue implementing the government’s initiatives in supervising the National Service in discharging its obligations in agricultural, construction and industrial sectors.
Earlier, RC Maganga saluted the fifth government’s initiatives to consolidate the palm tree sub-sector.
The Kigoma MP, Mr Peter Serukamba thanked the premier and the government at large for the priority being addressed to the sub-sector.
