Author: BERNARD LUGONGO
AfricaPress-Tanzania: EFFORTS to uplift Tanzania’s horticulture are on top gear, with Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa ordering formation of a special authority to supervise the sub-sector.
In line with this, the Premier wanted a centre for horticulture to be in place to conduct studies for boosting growth of horticulture in various places in the country.
He was directing the Ministry of Agriculture on Saturday when he graced the ‘Regional Horticultural Trade and Investment Forum’ held in Dar es Salaam.
The one-day forum was engineered by the Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA).
His directive comes in the wake of growing potential in the horticulture sub-sector which has so far employed over 4 million Tanzanians.
Mr Majaliwa noted that the country’s horticulture production has increased by 10.5 per cent.
The industry is the fastest growing sub sector within the agricultural sector, with an annual average growth of about 9- 12 per cent per annum. This record of growth is more than double the overall annual growth rate of the agricultural sector.
“Introduce the special authority to oversee the horticultural products, this shouldn’t be delayed, I will closely follow up on this,” the PM ordered the ministry, and noted that even countries which are doing well in horticulture, like neighboring Kenya, have authorities for the sub-sector.
He further noted that it is high time the country has a research centre for developing horticulture growth, like it was the case for other crops like cashew nuts.
He went on to tell the ministry to identify areas for establishing horticultural products collecting centres countrywide.
The Premier emphasised that there is a lot of untapped opportunities in Tanzania’s horticulture, ranging from fresh produce to processing ones. “We will ensure that all challenges facing this sub-sector get solutions,” he vowed.
Apart from the regional and international market, Tanzania’s demand for horticulture produce stands at 8.13 million tons annually, and the amount is expected to go up to 11 million tons in the next five years.
Statistics indicate that the East African region and the Southern African Development Countries imported horticultural products worth USD 6.6 billion (15.2tri/-) between the year 2015 and 2019, which is equivalent to USD 1.3 billion (3.04 tri/-) every year.
Earlier, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Gerald Kusaya, said the sector is one of the areas highlighted under the Agriculture Sector Development Programme II (ASDP II) for uplifting the agriculture.
Mr Kusaya noted that through the partnership with the private sector for boosting horticulture, the ministry will ensure production of quality horticulture products for competitiveness in the market.
This will go along with having laboratories that will check quality for international standards. So far the ministry has identified three laboratories that will be upgraded for that purpose.
He said the ministry has formed a special committee to work on challenges in transportation of horticultural products, ahead of establishing the horticulture authority, as per the Prime Minister’s directive.
“We have already started preparing a national strategy for finding markets for horticultural produce,” he informed.
Chief Executive Officer of TAHA, Dr Jackline Mkindi noted that the aim of the forum was to come up with a way forward on expanding domestic, regional and international markets for the horticultural products.
“By end of this meeting, we would have identified opportunities for horticultural crops. We will come up with areas of priority for improving trade enabling environment,” Dr Mkindi stated.
On her part, chairperson of Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Ms Angelina Ngalula said they intend to increase irrigation farming from the current 500,000 hectares to 1.2 million hectares.
