AfricaPress-Tanzania: REGIONAL irrigation engineers have been instructed to speed up various programmes intended to increase irrigated areas from 694,715 hectares to one million hectares by 2025.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Gerald Kusaya issued the order while opening a twoday meeting for management and irrigation engineers from the National Irrigation Commission.
Kusaya said it was high time all irrigation engineers in the country focus on putting in place effective plans so that the government desire is fulfilled.
“The goal of the fifth phase government in the irrigation sector is to ensure that 1,000,000 hectares are being irrigated by 2025. We should ask ourselves, are we on track? Have we done enough?” queried Kusaya.
In his opening remarks, the Secretary-General noted that the Ministry of Agriculture wants the Irrigation Commission to focus more on addressing infrastructure challenges so that farmers can produce more crops to enable the country have food security.
He commended the Irrigation Commission for successfully expanding the area by constructing and rehabilitating a total of 179 irrigation schemes and thus successfully increasing the irrigated area from 461,000 hectares in 2015 to 694,715 hectares in 2020.
The Secretary-General added that productivity has increased in irrigation schemes from an average of 1.8 – 2.0 tons per hectare to an average of 4.0 – 5.0 tons per hectare for rice, while maize crop production increased from 1.5 tons to 3.7- 5.0 tons per hectare.
Kusaya also instructed the regional irrigation engineers and all staff to be more productive and responsible.
On his part, the Acting Director General of the National Irrigation Commission, Eng. David Kaali said they have successfully increased rice production through irrigation schemes from 714,000 tons in 2000 to 2,009,174 tons in 2019 due to many improved infrastructures.
He also said to achieve the target of one million hectares by 2025, the Commission will develop irrigation schemes in the Ruvuma River Basin (26,000), Ruhuhu River (3,700), Songwe River (3,005), Rufiji River (64,896), Luiche Kigoma Basin (3,000) and the Usangu-Mbeya basin (10,000) over the next five years 2021-2025.
Engineer Kaali said that they need 986.8 billion shillings to make the dream come true, of which the government will contribute 41 per cent and the rest will come from irrigation associations, stakeholders and the private sector as stipulated in the Agricultural Sector Development Program Phase II (ASDP II)
