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Wassira identifies hurdles to good farm productivity
2007-10-03 08:53:48
By Patrick Kisembo
Farmers` lack of knowledge in prudent agricultural practices and education has been cited as a major hurdle in the improvement and assurance of good farm productivity in the country.
Speaking to The Guardian on Monday, Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives minister Stephen Wassira said the country had not made any breakthrough in agriculture because the majority of farmers had not been using appropriate farming practices.
Wassira said due to failure by farmers to uphold good agricultural practices, productivity per hectare was still very low in the country.
`That is not the only problem. We need to train farmers and at the same time motivate extension officers,` he said.
He said education alone could not increase productivity if the quality of seeds and fertilizer did not reach the farmers.
`That is why we have decided to establish a rural credit package that will enable a farmer in rural areas to access all farming necessities for good productivity, income and good life,` he said.
The minister said Tanzania was close to complying with the Maputo Declaration requiring all African states to allocate 10 per cent of their annual budgets to the agricultural sector by 2010.
A total of 6.3 per cent was allocated to agriculture in the 2007/2008 fiscal year.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says 70 per cent of the world hungry live in rural areas due to prevailing critical food shortages.
`Agricultural development is the first step in long-term sustainable economic growth. Everyone gains from investment in agriculture,` he said.
Wassira, who was speaking ahead of the World Food Day a fortnight away, said FAO`s theme for this year was: `Every person has the right to regular access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food for an active, healthy life.
It is the right to feed oneself in dignity, rather than the right to be fed`.
During the promulgation of the Maputo Declaration in 2003, African heads of state committed their governments to allocating 10 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture and rural development within five years with a view to doubling the present level of resources in the sector.
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