The government has announced a 50 per cent increase in agricultural inputs subsidy from the current 20 per cent to enable the farmers produce crops more efficiently.

Under the new arrangement the actual costs involved in the acquisition of fertilisers and high yield seeds would now be shared equally between farmers and the government.

Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives minister Stephen Wassira making the announcement at a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday also talked about food scarcity experienced in some parts of the country.

He said that the increase in subsidy was made on top of the previously granted 20 per cent offer, adding that availability of farm inputs would be expedited to eliminate unnecessary delays affecting crop yields in some areas.

“The annual national demand for high yield seeds is 30,000 tonnes, but the availability currently stands at 16,128 tonnes, equivalent to 53.8 per cent of the total needs. Efforts are underway to make sure that farmers receive the seeds appropriately,” Wassira explained.

As for fertilisers, the minister said, the annual demand was 385,000 tonnes, while the current supply was 217,109 tonnes—equivalent to 57 per cent.

“The aim is to ensure 100 per cent delivery of seeds and fertilisers to the farmers. One of the strategies is for the government to cover 50 per cent costs and farmers top up the remaining half,” he clarified.

Wassira commended agricultural researchers for creditable job accomplished in the production of high yield seeds capable of meeting international standards.

Commenting on the availability of enough fertilisers the minister said three companies had imported a total of 26,000 tonnes of fertilisers expected to reach the farmers before the end of next month.

Meanwhile, the government has warned that food shortage was a growing problem, appealing for more concerted efforts to ensure delivery of at least one million tonnes of grain to avert starvation to the people currently in dire need of relief supply.

The minister said that food deficiency resulted from last year’s insufficient cereal harvests whereby 5.2 million tonnes were collected as opposed to the projected national demand of 6 million tonnes for the 2009/2010 period.

He said several places in the country were currently experiencing food shortage from the previous sharp decline in harvests caused by a long spell of drought.

Wassira elaborated that the National Food Reserve Authority (NFRA) had stockpiled over 107,269 tonnes of cereals required for 2009/2010, but until June this year the stock had declined to 89,842 tonnes.

“Until July this year, the authority managed to buy only 37,000 tonnes of cereals from farmers in the Southern Highlands,” he said adding that the government would continue to buy cereals and stockpile.

As for the most affected areas, said the minister, the government had taken additional measures to mitigate the effects.

He said some 65,160 tonnes of cereals had been set aside for the areas of which 50,003 tonnes had already been distributed up to mid this month.

However, the minister never downplayed the seriousness of the problem as he spoke about deployment of food situation assessment teams in at least 65 districts.

The districts are in Arusha, Manyara, Kilimanjaro, Tanga, Coast, Morogoro, Dodoma, Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Mara, Mbeya, Lindi and Mtwara regions.

He made a special appeal to traders and other stakeholders to work closely with authorities to ensure movement of food from places of abundance to where scarcity exists.

“Let farmers with sufficient food reserve stop unwarranted cross-border food smuggling to help ease the suffering among fellow countrymen currently in need of food,” he appealed.

He also advised farmers to take advantage of the coming El Nino rains by cultivating crops to offset the prevailing food shortage.

“Although El Nino is an unusual phenomenon, farmers can take advantage of it and cultivate crops such as paddy to boost both family and national reserves,” he advised.

Early this month the government moved emergency food reserves from the four leading food producing regions in Mbeya, Iringa, Rukwa and Ruvuma to the northern parts of the country facing acute food shortage.