AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Cereals and Other Produce Board (CPB) has announced measures targeting
to revive the country’s wheat industry despite a slight upward trend of its production,
especially in the northern regions.
CPB said the country’sannual demand for wheat flour stood at 800,000 tonnes last year, and at least 530bn/-is spent to import the product into the country.
CPB Acting Director General, Valerian Mablangeti told reporters here yesterday that the government’s plan is to ensure production reaches 400,000 tonnes infour years.
“We are currently working to revive the wheat industry. We have started negotiations with stakeholders, including farmers, banking institutions and agricultural research institutes,” he said.
Initially, CPB had communication with farmers from Monduli, Mbulu, Karatu, Hanang and West
Kilimanjaro—potential areas widely known for their land and climate suitable for wheat farming. Mr Mablangeti said the plan is to ensure farmers enter into pre-production contracts with CPB
to provide a constant supply of market and produces.
The board retained the Arusha based factory with a maximum capacity to process over 36,000tonnes of wheat annually. “This was a government property which was rented to one Monaban Trading and Farming Co…we have resolved not to renew the contract to allow the
government fully participate in enhancing the production of wheat in the country,” he said.
Already the authority has started signing contracts with farmers from Karatu, assuring them that there are ample markets for the commercial crop. “What we are doing also is to rehabilitate the machines that we think are long overused,” he noted.
Mablangeti said the target is to sign 40,000 farmers to meet the demand for the existing factories. Other initiatives announced by CPB include soil analysis—a work which will be conducted by
Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI).
The acting Director-General said his office had also agreed with NMB Bank and the National Insurance Corporation to offer soft loans and insurance to farmers respectively. We have requested the Agricultural Seeds Agency (ASA) to help in the mass production of improved seeds that meet the demand of farmers. The farming season is set to begin next March, and production at the Arusha based factory is planned for June next year.
It is expected that farmers will produce at least 2 tonnes per hectare, a substantial increase from the current production of one tonne on each hectare
