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Why promises must be fulfilled
2006-05-25 07:55:19
By Editor
Once more, a very positive government statement on irrigation farming has been made, this time around by Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Hezekiah Chibulunje.
At a public rally in Singida last week, the deputy minister told the residents that the government was committed to developing irrigation farming, citing the assistance by the International Fund for Agricultural Development ( IFAD) as part of efforts to boost modern farming in the country.
The deputy minister also promised that the government would improve infrastructure to ensure that irrigation farming is given priority.
As far as we can remember, this is not the first time such ’hope for a brighter future,’ is being said by a government leader when addressing wananchi. Many promises have been made before.
It is very common for leaders to travel from Dar es Salaam to the regions to view development activities, address wananchi, give them a couple of ’empty’ promises and return to their offices in Dar es Salaam. No follow ups would be made after such trips until perhaps when the general election is around the corner.
However, many people are becoming more and more enlightened and sooner than later leaders will find themselves in situations that force them to give an account of their deeds at public rallies.
Last year, some MPs seeking re-election had a difficult task, trying to convince the voters that they would bring changes to their constituencies. People do not eat words, they want to benefit from implementation of the so called proposals and visions.
It is time to fulfill the promises to avoid embarrassment.
That Tanzania depends on agriculture for its survival is not something new. It is sad however to say that after so many years of political stability, the country has not enjoyed stable food production.
Why? Because farmers still depend on rains for the greater part of their activities.
Yet, the country is endowed with rivers which empty their valuable waters into the Indian Ocean. When the rains fail, the country either imports food or begs from donors and aid agencies.
There is something significant about farming in this country. After the dry season and even at this point in time when drought was experienced in most parts of the country, the city of Dar es Salaam is receiving large quantities of green maize from farmers.
Which simply means that some parts of the country had been irrigated by the little water that was available during the dry spell.
We think that irrigation farming is a viable and sustainable option to the farmers and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has a task ahead, not only to promise Tanzanians that the government will help some areas to boost irrigation farming, but to change this country from depending on rain to irrigation agriculture.
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