Author: HARRIET KIAMA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has called upon Tanzanians to value homemade goods.
The Premier made the call yesterday in Bagamoyo District, Coast Region when he addressed the management and workers of Bakhresa Sugar Limited (BSL).
“We, Tanzanians, must change our mindsets. We must be patriotic, we must be proud of our homemade goods and we must positively speak on our goods. We must be proud of our skills,” Mr Majaliwa insisted.
The prime minister toured BSL site to inspect the ongoing construction of the sugar factory, sugar plantation infrastructures, special laboratory and irrigation infrastructure.
“President John Magufuli has all along been saying Tanzanians are capable of doing good things and today I have personally witnessed that we are indeed able to do good things. The problem is that we don’t speak positively on what we do,” stated Mr Majaliwa, who went on to query; “Why are we undermining ourselves?”
He, thus, urged Tanzanians to change their mindsets after noting that almost all workers were schooled in domestic colleges such as Kaole Agricultural College in Bagamoyo and Sokoine University of Agriculture.
“We must market, speak positively and feel proud of our country,” he insisted.
The PM said President Magufuli’s decision to allocate 10,000 hectares of land to establish sugar plantations and the sugar factory aimed at increasing sugar production in the country.
He said the government will continue to create a favourable environment in ending the sugar shortage in the country as the nation still faces shortage of the sweetener.
According to him, the country’s shortage of domestic sugar is 70,000 tonnes per year while that of industrial sugar is 165,000 tonnes annually, which isn’t produced at all in the country.
He said the country’s current total domestic demand of the sweetener stands at 450,000 tonnes while the production capacity in all factories stands at 380,000 tonnes.
Apart from TPC, Kagera, Mtibwa, Kilombero, Manyara and Bagamoyo, there is still available land for sugar plantations in Tarime and Kigoma, inviting more investors to explore the opportunities.
“It’s our plan to stop importing sugar and start producing it on our own and it will be of high quality,” he said, commending Bakhresa Group of Companies for the investment that has also created employment opportunities for Tanzanians.
Speaking of the project, Mr Majaliwa noted its completion would enable the country to tackle shortage of sugar and that it would assure a market of sugar cane being produced by local farmers surrounding the project area.
He also instructed the agriculture officers to continue issuing public education on the importance of investing in sugarcane production as there is a reliable market.
Earlier, the Director General of Bakhresa group of Companies, Mr Abubakar Bakhresa reiterated their commitment to continue complementing the government’s move to address the shortage of sugar in the country.
Mr Bakhresa said the project cost 100million US dollars and that so far they have managed to mobilise 70 per cent of the total budget.
The fund has been mobilised from various sources including bank loans and from within the Bakhresa Group of Companies.
According to him they have borrowed 6.5million US dollar the Tanzania Agriculture Development Bank (TADB), CRDB Bank (25million US dollars), Standard Chartered Bank (10US million dollars) while the 30 US million dollars are from within the Bakhresa group.
In another development, Prime Minister Majaliwa has challenged graduates to be creative by coming up with different ideas that can earn them money, instead of waiting for white collar jobs.
He said, instead of waiting for employment from the formal sector, it’s high time for graduates to change their mindsets and venture into self-employment where there was great potential.
The Premier made the statement on Monday when addressing a senate of graduates from Dar es Salaam based universities in an event that was held at the Karimjee Hall in the city.
“Let’s try to do away with the mentality that white collar jobs are the only form of work that graduates have to do. It isn’t easy for all graduates to be accommodated in the formal sector, we have to accept the reality that you can earn your living from any legal activity,” said Mr Majaliwa.
He also explained that the government has managed to improve educational infrastructures by renovating schools, colleges and universities for them to cope with the current demand.
“To address shelter challenges for university students in Dar es Salaam, the government had released its houses in Kigamboni and Kijichi to be used as hostels,” he said.
