AfricaPress-Tanzania: FORMER Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has urged people to capitalise on agriculture, saying it is the only solution to boost the economy.
He said there was a need to engage in horticultural farming to improve people’s health and reduce the stunting rate in the country.
Mr Pinda said this when receiving 12 greenhouses prepared at 104m/-to facilitate horticultural farming.
He said if people wanted to get out of poverty, agriculture was the main economic activity to help them.
Mr Pinda used the platform to stress the need to invest in horticultural farming which he said was able to help people get out of poverty and reduce the stunting rate in the country.
He said malnutrition and stunting in the country continued going up, noting that they were contributed by the fact that people were not complying with healthy eating lifestyles.
“We have a myth in our communities that people who eat vegetables are poor, but the truth of the matter is that vegetables help people get healthier,’’ he said.
Mr Pinda noted that the decision to establish vegetable farming through greenhouses came due to the fact that he was appointed as the ambassador of an institution that was tasked to deal with stunting and malnutrition.
“I was given the task to raise an institution dealing with malnutrition and stunting. That is why I decided to lead by example by starting vegetable farming which will help improve our people’s health,’’ he added.
Since his retirement from public service in 2015, Mr Pinda has been engaging in agriculture and pastoralism in Zuzu that has so far been used to create public awareness and education to different people, including students from higher learning institutions in Dodoma Region.
The former Premier said his success in pastoralism and agriculture was contributed by loans he got from various financial institutions.
Speaking on the same occasion, his wife Tunu Pinda asked people to utilise agricultural opportunities by accessing loans from various financial institutions.
Dodoma District Commissioner (DC), Patrobas Katambi said the success by Mr Pinda should be an eye-opener for public servants and those employed in the private sector to prepare themselves for new and successful lives after retirement.
“For us public servants we should know that success does not come as a result of stealing when in office. We have seen how Mr Pinda has recorded a tremendous achievement by utilising available opportunities,’’ noted Mr Katambi.
