Sekta ya Kilimo, Ufugaji na Uzalishaji Tanzania | Tanzanian Agricultural Sector

[Geza Ulole]

Cross Border Cereals Trade Makes Headway

BY SEBASTIAN MRINDOKO, 9 OCTOBER 2012

A mountain of maize in Sumbawanga Rukwa Region, ready for distribution to the market. Tanzania has made big strides in agriculture in the past few years with cross border trade on cereals on the increase. (File photo)

FORMAL cross-border trade in commodities could be one of the biggest economic activities in East Africa, which has a combined population of more than 150 million people, who need to eat hundreds of tonnes of food daily.

With the highest comparative advantage for the production of various food crops, Tanzania has been benefiting little from the agribusiness potential boon because much of the trade has so far been informal. For example, statistics show that between October and December last year about 50,000 tonnes of cereals, like maize, rice, wheat, and sorghum or 39 per cent of total food commodities traded in the region originated in Tanzania, pointing to massive potential for income generation and fighting poverty.

Generally, the Namanga border market between Kenya and Tanzania recorded the highest volume of cross border trade, which was at least formal. But the amount of food trade through border posts remains uncertain thus putting the nation at great risk of losing massive revenue. To avert the situation, authorities in Kilimanjaro Region decided to make cross border trade formal at a market centre located at Himo Township, Moshi rural district.

The Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner, Mr Leonidas Gama, revealed last week in an interview that the move has helped the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TR A) to collect more taxes, which formerly was impossible because the business was informal. "This is just the beginning of the long term programme to make the centre, which is a few kilometres to the border with Kenya an international market to end incidences of smuggling," he said.

Official figures recorded from October to December last year show that maize continued to be the most traded commodity with 27,019 tonnes crossing the borders. Other commodities with their tonnage in brackets were beans (22,636), sesame (21,310), rice (10,245) and wheat (6,768). About 80 per cent of the maize traded originated from Tanzania and went through Namanga to Kenya, where drought has ravaged farms and wreaked havoc on food supply.

But other reports showed that there were large undocumented consignments also crossing the border. The Holili market centre is also an important business point with Kenya with plenty of revenue opportunities for the country, he added. He said construction of an international market facility was blessed by President Jakaya Kikwete who promised to inject 2bn/- in the project.

He said the decision to formalise the trade was also welcomed by the business community, due to the disturbances while trying to avoid Customs officials thus sometimes plunging them into heavy losses. At times, they faced heavy penalties when they fell in the hands of Customs officials.

Before the decision to formalise the businesses was reached, Mr Gama said customs officials used to ambush traders at border points, an exercise that was not only costly and dangerous but also the revenue collected was small. Apart from revenue collection from the business transactions at the market, also trucks from neighbouring countries will be paying road toll.

"The project will be a successful story if all parties particularly the TR A play their role efficiently," he added. Tanzania enjoys comparative advantage in producing food crops like maize and other legumes with high demand in the neighbouring countries, Kenya included.

Although the common market protocol has already been ratified by the five East African countries, the business community has continued to complain over the cumbersome clearance procedures and the still existing informal exits, famous as 'panya' or rat routes. Complementing the initiatives already in place, the five East African countries, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda have decided to increase regional food trade by 20 per cent more in the next five years.

The projection is contained in the new East Africa Food Security Plan, where trading among each other would grow among Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi from the current 10 per cent to 30 per cent. To realise the plan, the Secretary General of East African Community (EAC), Dr Richard Sezibera, said last week that harmonisation of the policies is the first challenge to be addressed in order to reach the desired goal.

He cited the construction of the 20 million US dollars storage facility by Yara International at the Dar es Salaam port as one of the strategies to boost intra regional food trade. Tanzania is technically the gateway for a number of landlocked countries, most of which do not have enough fertilizer supplies to be able to increase their food production.

Yara International presently supplies 120,000 tonnes of fertilizer annually to Tanzania and neighbouring countries, but the installation of this facility would increase the quantities to meet the growing demand. The multi-national fertiliser company started building a warehouse at the Dar es Salaam port this year after the government approved the over 20 million US dollars (about 30bn/-) project to to serve the local and regional fertilizer markets.

The new terminal will have a revolving storage capacity of 45,000 tonnes of fertilizer, which will be sufficient for the medium term requirements. The project is a result of President Kikwete's visit to Yara's Headquarters in Norway in 2007, where he invited the group to invest in Tanzania.
http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php...-makes-headway

MY TAKE
The way things stand if those big 6 Southern Tanzania sneeze the whole region will die of hunger if not serious economic catastrophes (out of importation of cereals) like last year's inflation to member states with food accounting huge chunk of the spiraling cost! I keep waiting till when budget allocation to agriculture is 10% (GOT says from next year) since that is the only way the food price will be stable!

[Geza Ulole]

11th October 12
85,000 coffee farmers lined up for Bill Gates' USD8m support
Prosper Makene
German based development finance institution—DEG – Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH – has launched a partnership under Coffee Partnership for Tanzania (CPT), to bring together Tanzanian smallholder coffee farmers and DEG plus’ private sector partners.

The four-year project aims to increase the net income of 85,000 female and male smallholder coffee farmers in Tanzania, largely by doubling their yields and by improving the quality of produced coffee, thereby providing a better livelihood for up to 510,000 people.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, DEG’s Project Director for CPT Ian Lachmund, said that the project is financed by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through a USD8m grant support.

“Alongside the Bill and Melinda Foundation, the project will also have three major implementing partners – the two coffee traders Armajaro Trading Limited and Ecom Agroindustrial Limited plus the private foundation Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung – which will co-finance the project with large investments into the sector, increasing the significance of the overall project budget substantially.

Furthermore, strategic partners such as Hivos, Solidaridad and Café Africa will support the partnership”, he said.

Lachmund Added: “The CPT will substantially support 85,000 Tanzanian smallholder farmers from 2012 –2016. The partnership’s goal is to enable female and male farmers to take full advantage of the opportunities arising from the production of coffee and additional products, helping producers to increase their incomes and improve their livelihood”.

He pointed out that the implementing partners will undertake capacity-building measures to promote the empowerment of smallholder coffee producers within the global coffee value chain.

He underscored that the project activities include promotion of the organization of well-governed farmer groups, training of farmers in basic business and agronomy skills, improvement of farmers’ access to finance, and facilitation of producers’ affiliation to certification schemes – thereby increasing the overall productivity and quality of the coffee production and meanwhile improving smallholders’ access to stable export markets.

“Additional activities in the areas of gender, seedling multiplication and distribution, renewable energy as well as livestock and food production will be undertaken to further promote the environmental and social sustainability of the partnership,” he said.

The German development finance institution will also coordinate the monitoring and evaluation process with external evaluations allowing for regular feedback from supported farmers throughout the project’s tenure, he said.

“...this will allow constant process and implementation improvement. Furthermore, results, lessons learnt and best practices will be shared with the wider stakeholders community. The mutual long-term interest of the implementing and strategic partners as well as the lasting effect of smallholder farmers’ capacity building will ensure a sustainable impact of the project…,”he said.

“The Coffee Partnership for Tanzania is a good example of innovative partnerships between public, private and philanthropic partners facilitating and providing investment to empower smallholder farmers in Africa and throughout the developing world to overcome poverty and hunger,” he insisted.
“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation puts smallholder farmers’ interests at the centre of their work,” says Dana Boggess, the foundation’s Programme Officer.

“We are glad to continue supporting Tanzanian producers over the next years in order to help them improve their productivity and the quality of the coffee they produce. We believe the partnership will contribute to the Tanzanian coffee industry’s growth, while increasing incomes throughout the coffee value chain, especially those of smallholder farmers,” he said.

Mohamed S. Muya, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, agreeing said: “The partnership’s goals and its planned activities fully align with the Tanzanian coffee industry’s Development Strategy that we have formulated in the sector’s Task Force Committee.

The partnership provides a great opportunity for smallholder farmers and is expected to help us increase the sector’s overall production volumes over the four year tenure.”
DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, a member of KfW Bankengruppe (KfW banking group), finances private sector investments in developing and emerging market countries.

As one of Europe’s largest development finance institutions, it promotes private business structures to contribute to sustainable economic growth and improved living conditions.

THE GUARDIAN
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/fun...le.php?l=46810

[Geza Ulole]

TIB to loan out $685m
Sunday, 14 October 2012 13:36 John Mbalamwezi
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB) is expected to dish out a three-year loan amounting Tsh1,099bn ($685m) to farmers so as to boost farming productivity in the country by 2015.
Speaking to East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam, the TIB's Managing Director Mr. Peter Noni said his bank intends to inject a big part of the loan in agricultural and value addition sector so as to supplement the government efforts of ensuring green revolution initiative.
According to Noni, it is a desire of the investment bank to invest more in agriculture and processing industry through soft loans.
"This loan will increase market penetration of our local farmers' products and ensure value addition to agricultural products hence putting our farmers in a good position of getting good price for their products and improve income," Noni said.
Noni explained investing in agriculture and processing industries will in most cases stimulate growth of industries. "We expect a massive increase in industrial loans due to our desire to invest more in the processing sector," he said.
He further added for the country to have sustainable development in agriculture sector, the government should take initiative to develop infrastructure and energy.


TEA HARVEST: The loan will benefit agriculture and processing industries


"It is not possible to revolutionize agriculture in the country without adequate electricity as well as improved infrastructure. These are among the key factors that will make it possible for the country to break even in agriculture revolution and feed the East African countries," he added.
Last year, the bank was able to lend to agriculture and value additional sectors through its agricultural window to about 45% of the total loan issued. "Projects funded by TIB last year created 824 permanent jobs while more than 8,340 were non-permanent jobs.
As of August this year, loan portfolio of the bank grew to $154m (Tsh247bn), whereby $101m (Tsh163bn) was a medium and long term loan, which is 66% of the total loan.
Established in 1970 by an Act of parliament as a development financial institution, TIB added an agriculture lending window in 2010 after President Kikwete ordered the Bank of Tanzania to channel money recovered from External Arrears Payment Account defaulters to TIB for lending to the agriculture sector.
The bank's Board Chairman, Professor William Lyakurwa has recently quoted by the local media saying that TIB intends to issue loans to city and town councils to support them in improving infrastructure like markets, storage facilities, electricity, and build industrial areas.
The move by TIB is meant to ensure that towns and city councils are well equipped with investment that will create employment venue to the youth.
"We have a lot of unemployed youth in the country. We believe that through improved market infrastructures, storage facilities and the alike, youths will find a loophole to get employed and improve their lives.
Last year, the bank was able to make a profit of about $3.6m (Tsh5.8bn), compared to$2.2m (Tsh3.6bn) in 2010, which was $1.3m (Tsh2.2bn)- or 61% more compared to profit in the previous year.
As of June this year, the bank's net asset value also increased to $ 195.8m (Tsh314bn) from the previous $190m (Tsh305bn) as of December 2011.
Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB) was established in 1970 as a development finance institution (DFI). After operating as a DFI for about 25 years, TIB was transformed into an investment cum development bank in order to enhance its capacity to meet the challenges of the marketplace.
http://www.busiweek.com/opportunitie...-loan-out-685m

[Geza Ulole]

18th October 12
31.79bn/- needed in modernisation of country's tea farming
Dickson Ng`hily


Tea researchers work in a farm in the Southern Highlands. (File photo)

Smallholder farmers in Tanzania’s tea sub sector will need at least 31.79b/- for replanting new clone varieties which would improve the crop quality as well as getting higher yields.

It is said that starting a new commercial tea plantation, a farmer would need to at least have USD2400 per ha equivalent to 3.84m/-.
“It is costly to launch a replanting programme, especially for small-scale farmers as it is only 30 per cent of the cultivated areas which have been replanted with the improved, higher yielding seeds, also known as cloned seeds,” said Tea Board of Tanzania (TBT) acting director general Nicholaus Mauya, in an exclusive interview.

He added: “The amount could get higher as you will also need to compensate farmers for a period of three years while they wait for the harvesting period as it takes almost that period to harvest.”

According to him, Tanzania Smallholder Tea Development Agency (TSHTDA) which workd for the programme says it will have to work hard for it to be realised.

Speaking over the phone interview, Salome Mwambigija a small holder farmer from Rugwe, Mbeya Region, told said: “It is a bright idea, in fact it is highly welcome, but with caution. They (government) should compensate us while we wait for the tea to grow because our lives largely depend on the crop.
Personally, I am a widow and it is my farm that feeds me and my children.”

According to her, the government through farmers’ unions and TSHTDA, should work closely so as to ensure that the programme works for the good of small-scale farmers who number almost 30,000.

If implemented, the programme will go along with TSHTDA’S five year strategic plan of which, small farmers are to be transformed to commercial farmers away from substantial farming.

This could be good news for the industry as it was for Malawi where a similar programme was introduced and by now 84 percent of the country’s tea stake is owned by large commercial enterprises that were once peasants.

In an interview recently, Director General for TSHTDA Mustafa Umande, said Malawi managed to phase out the replanting programme through the help of European Union (EU) and the World Bank (WB).

“We should also seek financial assistance from external sources as the government alone cannot afford to subsidise the programme as it needs huge amounts of money for tea seeding, farms preparation, replanting and compensation,” Umande said.

According to statistics from TSHTDA, tea produced by small-scale farmers raised 10,300 tons in 2010/2011 up to 11,600 tons in 2011/2012, an increase of 4 percent. Total tea produced in the country by both small-scale and estates are valued at 31.7bn/- with 37 percent of it produced by peasants.

Modernising and commercialising agriculture for peasant, small and medium producers to commercial farmers is one of the pillars of Kilimo Kwanza.

The Tea Research of Tanzania (TRIT) as of January this year released four new clones for commercial production a move that followed five years collaboration with the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya (TRFK).

The new clones include; TRFK 301/5, TRFK 303/178, TRFK 430/63 and TRFK 381/5. The cloned seed were subjected to rigorous tests which are mandatory before the variety is registered for commercial production.

TRIT hopes that with the new release of superior clones, Tanzania’s tea industry will benefit in terms of quality improvement tea and as well as being able to deal with the threat of climate change through the use of drought tolerant varieties.

With 32,000 tons per annum, Tanzania is the fifth major tea producer in Africa after Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The figure constitutes about 1 percent of world tea production ranking the country at number 19 globally.

THE GUARDIAN
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/fun...le.php?l=47037

[Geza Ulole]

17th October 12
Soaring costs chase Tanzania tea marketers from Mombasa auction
Dickson Ng`hily
Tanzania tea producers have swapped to direct sale as a way of offsetting high operational costs incurred at the Mombasa Weekly Tea Auction.

This has triggered decline on tea production in Tanzania one of largest black tea auction across the globe.

Statistics reveal that between April and June last year, Tanzanian tea quantities at Mombasa auction were 3,080 tons while in the same period this year it received only 2,710 tons, a decline of to 12 per cent.

Last month’s sale dropped drastically by over 53 percent compared to that sold at the auction in the same period last year.

When this is seen as a blow to Tanzania’s tea, on the contrary, the move has helped the country’s producers to benefit more from the crop’s revenue.

In an exclusively interview with The Guardian, Nicholaus Mauya, Tea Board of Tanzania (TBT) acting director general, confirmed:
“It is true that our tea sales in Mombasa are declining and this is due to the fact that producers tend to consider direct sales than the action.”

Mauya explained that the move has been fuelled by the fact that direct sale prices favour the producer as they range between USD2 and USD3 per kg, while at the auction the average price is between USD1.66 to USD1.72.

According to him, for the period between April this year and September, over 13,350.95 tons of tea was exported through direct sales whereby USD26.7m was earned.

He added: “Storage and broker charges are inevitable at the auction, and when the price declines, the broker tends to hoard tea till the prices get better. Therefore, the producers pay the charges, but with direct sales, costs of storage, transport and brokers’ fees are born by the buyer.”

According to media reports, Tanzanian and Malawian producers threatened to withdraw their supplies at the auction recently, citing uncertainty in business.

The report quoted Peter Kimanga, Chairman of the East African Tea Trade Association as saying: “This trend is attributed in part to the Kenyan government requirements for the lodge of 10m/- deposit, and a requirement to invest in warehousing, without any guarantee of future licensing of operations.”
Reports also suggest that farmers want to exploit the benefits of Everything But Arms Agreement (EBA), a pact, which the two countries (Tanzania and Malawi) have adopted.

The trend, however, comes at a time when the viability of the auction floor is also threatened by the increasing purchases of the crop outside the auction system.

Maulawa Mwakajala, a stakeholder in the country’s tea industry, told this paper that there should be more efforts so as to make the crop profitable to the farmers as currently the processors are the ones benefiting from the produce.

“Currently, it is the processers and blenders who benefit from the crop so there should be more efforts so as to make ensure that farmers also benefits, in fact this is where Tanzania Smallholders Tea Development Agency (TSTDA), Tea Board of Tanzania (TAT) and Tea Research Institute of Tanzania (TRIT) should come in for rescue.

Mombasa Tea Auction is one of 11 largest black tea auction sites across the globe, where about 80 brokers and buyers take part in the transactions that take place every Monday and Tuesday.

Currently, Tanzania is the fifth major tea producer in Africa after Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi with about 32,000 tons per annum, which constitute about 1 percent of world tea production ranking the nation number 19 globally.

Tea was introduced in Tanzania by the German settlers at Amani Agricultural Research Station, Tanga in 1902 and was also grown at Kyimbila in Rungwe District, Mbeya Region in 1904.

Commercial production began in 1926 and increased considerably after World War II, when the British took over the tea plantations.

THE GUARDIAN
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[Geza Ulole]

8th January 11
Narco to export beef to Zambia
Felix Andrew
Tanzania will next month start exporting meat to Zambia, top official of the National Ranching Company (Narco) revealed.
Dr John Mbogoma, Narco general manager said they were currently working on the logistics for the exports to land-locked country.
In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, the official said: “At the moment, we are laying the groundwork; I hope that exportation would start effectively in February, this year.”
This provides reliable market for the country’s livestock products, particularly cattle, as Zambian authorities need 24 tonnes of meat (equivalent to 240 cows) from Tanzania daily.
Tanzania, he said, has the capacity to supply the required quantity of meat under the latest programme which is implemented by Narco, Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries and Sumbawanga-based meat-processing campany, SAAFI.
“We have talked to SAAFI who assured us that they have the capacity to slaughter 200 cattle daily.
With such assurance, there is no doubt about the country’s supply capacity,” said Mbogoma, adding: “And Zambians will pick their supplies from right there (Sumbawanga).”
The deal between the two countries had already been sealed, and exportation would start immediately after finalisation of the logistical planning.
Although the move would benefit Tanzania generally, livestock-keepers in the Southern Highland regions “would benefit more, since most of the cattle to be exported by SAAFI to Zambia will come from surrounding pastoralists.”
According to the official, the beef export deal came after Zambia Beef Company requested to be supplied with the products from Tanzania daily.
The move would help improve the value of cattle being exported and benefit people through rise in employment.
In a move to ensure sustainability of market, he said they plan to educate herdsmen on modern cattle keeping which would enable them to raise the quality of the stocks.
He noted that they expect to get a loan of more than 2.8bn/- which would be used in improving infrastructure, buying of cattle, and cattle fattening at Kalambo, Mzeru hill, Kilimanjaro and Kongwa ranches.
Tanzania is endowed with abundant natural resources which include land and a huge livestock resource base.
Recently the government also announced it had secured a market to sell beef in the Comoros, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
It is also exploring the potential of selling of selling beef to the DRC.
Out of 88.6 million hectares of land; 60 million ha are rangelands with a carrying capacity of up to 20 million Livestock unit (LU) and providing over 90 percent of the feed resource for livestock.
The livestock resources include 19.1 million cattle, 13.6 million goats, 3.6 million sheep. Other livestock kept include 1.4 million pigs and 53 million chickens.
Most of the livestocks population in the country is found in the lake, northern and central zones.
The country ranks third in Africa in terms of cattle numbers after Ethiopia and Sudan.
The livestock sector contributes 4.7 percent of the GDP, of which 40 percent comes from beef, 30 percent dairy and the remaining 30 percent from other livestock.
Out of the 4.9 million agricultural households in the country, about 36 percent are keeping livestock.
Presently, NARCO is the largest company in Tanzania engaged in ranching business.
The company owns and operates ten ranches countrywide which together cover an area of 230,384 hectares (ha) and hold a total of 35,000 cattle, 2,933 sheep and goats.
About 289,069 ha have been sub divided into 124 small ranches and subleased to Tanzanian investors.
NARCO ranches were established under a low cost investment strategy that envisaged establishment of basic ranching infrastructures such as dam construction, roads, fire breaks, dips, cattle handling yards among others. Currently the company sells 12,250 cattle annually.
THE GUARDIAN
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[Geza Ulole]

26th October 12
Tanga RC to inaugurate honey factory next week
Prosper Makene
Tanga Regional Commissioner Chiku Galawa will next Tuesday inaugurate the newly built honey processing factory at Bungu in Korogwe District within the region.

Besides, she will give certificates to more than 210 beekeepers who have completed beekeeping training course.
The honey processing project is aimed to give jobs to villagers living near forest reserves in the district to ensure that they conserve the environment.
Speaking on the phone from Korogwe yesterday, the District Commissioner, Mrisho Gambo, said through the project, the villagers would accumulate money through beekeeping as their source of income while at the same time preserve the forest reserves.
Gambo pointed out that beekeeping is one of the socio-economic activities that are friendly to the environment and forests in particular, saying the residents stand to benefit a lot from the project.
“We all know that beekeeping is very important in our society in that many people use honey as food, medicine and for sale,” he said.
He added: “It offers a great potential for development and its work is comparatively less demanding in terms of investment, labour and time.”
Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) assistant field officer for West Usambara Mountains Revocatus Njau said that TFCG is administering the setting up of the honey processing factory.
Njau added that 20 percent of the money used to establish the factory came from the community while 80 percent was donated through TFCG.
There is a need for the government and stakeholders to improve rural roads and communication infrastructures to facilitate the transportation of bee products to the market, he said.

At least 210 beekeepers have been trained to conduct appropriate beekeeping for income generation which goes hand in hand with forests conservation, he said.

Beekeeping in Tanzania plays a major role in the socio-economic development and environmental conservation, he said, adding that it is a source of food and raw materials for industries.
It is estimated that the sector generates about USD1.7m every year from sales of honey and beeswax and employs about 2 million rural people leaving close to forests and woodlands.

Beekeeping in Tanzania is carried out using traditional methods that account for 99 percent of the total production of honey and beeswax.

Approximately 95 percent of all hives are traditional including log and bark hives. Others are reeds, gourds and pots.

Endowed with favourable environment for production of honey, beeswax and other bee products, Tanzania has about 33.5 million ha of forests and woodlands that are scattered throughout and area ideal for developing beekeeping industry.

It is estimated that the country has about 9.2 million honeybee colonies where production potential of bee products is about 138,000 tonnes of honey and 9,200 tonnes of beeswax per annum.
The main buyers of Tanzania honey are the EU, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kenya. The main importers of Tanzanian beeswax are Japan, US and EU member countries.

THE GUARDIAN
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[Geza Ulole]

Ginger growers smile as Kikwete launches ginger factory

Residents of Mamba Miamba Ward in Same District are optimistic about increased money circulation at their area following the launch of the newly built ginger factory early this week.

[IMG]President Jakaya Kikwete launches ginger factory[/IMG]
President Jakaya Kikwete launches ginger factory

President Jakaya Kikwete inaugurated the Mamba Ginger Growers Rural Cooperative Society owned factory that will see all ginger produced in the area, about 70 per cent of the country’s ginger production, bought by the cooperative at about 2,500/- up from the previous prices of between 200/- and 500/- per kilogramme.

Processed ginger will be sold at 6,000/- per a 250-gramme bottle and other smaller and bigger packages are also set to be introduced. The president praised the area MP Anne Killango Malecela for her dedication towards the realization of the project, saying the ginger factory will help alleviate poverty through boosting the income of ginger farmers in the area.


“We are now sure of taking our children to school and also improving our living standards,” said Joyce Kiario, one of the farmers and cooperative members. “We had kept our harvest in the stores because we had nowhere to take it since the prices were too low but now that we have a factory that will buy it at a good price we are sure of markets so we will work hard to produce more,” said Justin Singo who is also from the cooperative.

Ms Killango Malecela thanked her constituents, saying the project would not have been realized had it not been for their commitment. She asked the government to provide a police station in the village as they expected a huge circulation of money because of the factory operations, the request that was honoured immediately.

The Chairman of the society, Mr Elisafi Kiariro said that currently the society boasts of 439 active members, up from only 100 members in 2008. He said that with the factory now in full operation, in the 2011/2012 season, farmers are expecting to harvest 120 tonnes of ginger, which is equivalent to 120,000 kilogrammes.

The chairman said that the factory has the capacity to process over 2,000 tonnes annually, but said that the capacity can increase with the availability of more working capital, and it will also boost employment opportunity for the local community, with over 300 job opportunities available.

The Same District Executive Director, Joseph Mkude said the municipality is also set to benefit from the factory through revenue collection, saying that over 1.8 billion/- has been set aside to boost the road infrastructure which will boost production.

http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/biz...ginger-factory

[Geza Ulole]

Arusha farmers to earn from $8m grant
Saturday, 10 November 2012 19:20 David Muwanga
ARUSHA, TANZANIA - Arusha coffee farmers are among the 85,000 smallholder farmers who are set to benefit from a $8m grant that by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an official has said.
This follows an announcement by the German development finance institution DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH of the launch of the Coffee Partnership for Tanzania (CPT), a partnership bringing together Tanzanian smallholder coffee farmers, DEG plus its private sector partners.
“Coffee farmers from Arusha, Tanga, Manyara and Kilimanjaro regions are going to benefit from the partnership’s goals and its planned activities that are fully aligned with the Tanzanian coffee industry’s Development Strategy that we have formulated in the sector’s Task Force Committee,” said the Tanzania’s Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Mohamed Muya.
Muya explained the partnership provides a great opportunity for smallholder farmers and is expected to help government to increase the sector’s overall production volumes over the next four years.
He told the media the four-year project aims to increase the net income of 85,000 female and male smallholder coffee farmers in Tanzania, largely by doubling their yields and by improving the quality of produced coffee, thereby providing a better livelihood for up to 510,000 Tanzanian.
“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support the project with a grant of $8 million with three major implementing partners including two coffee traders Armajaro Trading Ltd. and Ecom Agroindustrial Ltd and Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung while strategic partners such as Hivos, Solidaridad and Café Africa will support the partnership.
The Coffee Partnership for Tanzania (CPT) will substantially support 85,000 Tanzanian smallholder farmers from 2012 – 2016.
“The partnership’s goal is to enable farmers to take full advantage of the opportunities arising from the production of coffee and additional products, helping producers to increase their incomes and improve their livelihood”, says Ian Lachmund, DEG Project Director for the partnership.
He explained that the implementing partners undertake capacity-building measures to promote the empowerment of smallholder coffee producers within the global coffee value chain.
The project activities include promotion of the organization of well-governed farmer groups, training of farmers in basic business and agronomy skills, improvement of farmers’ access to finance, and facilitation of producers’ affiliation to certification schemes – thereby increasing the overall productivity and quality of the coffee production and meanwhile improving smallholders’ access to stable export markets.
Additional activities in the areas of gender, seedling multiplication and distribution, renewable energy as well as livestock and food production further promote the environmental and social sustainability of the partnership.

http://busiweek.com/news/tanzania/39...&print=1&page=

[Geza Ulole]

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Carlyle seals first Africa deal with $210 million stake

3:18am EST
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Carlyle Group LP (CG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and two other investors will pay $210 million for a stake in pan-African agribusiness Export Trading Group, in the U.S. buyout firm's debut deal on the fast-growing continent.
Carlyle, Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and South African private equity fund Pembani Remgro said in a statement on Wednesday they would take a minority stake in Tanzania-based ETG, which farms and distributes more than 25 different commodities.
Carlyle established a sub-Saharan African team in March, opening offices in South Africa and Nigeria in a sign of the growing interest in Africa from global private equity firms.
Home to some of the world's fastest growing economies, Africa is also hampered by illiquid public capital markets, making traditional equity investments more difficult.
ETG, an agriculture supply chain manager, has a presence in 30 African countries and warehouses and facilities in Asia. It focuses on commodities such as maize, sugar, nuts and coffee.
Through its private equity arm, Standard Chartered first invested $74 million in ETG earlier this year. It will be increasing its stake through the investment with Carlyle.
Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund is a private equity fund run by South African investment firm Remgro Ltd (REMJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Phuthuma Nhleko, the former head of African mobile giant MTN Group (MTNJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
(Reporting by David Dolan; editing by Jane Baird)
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?...8AD0DL20121114

[Geza Ulole]

Tanzania’s farming drive big success, says PM
By In2EastAfrica Reporter


Implementation of the country’s major agriculture modernisation drive ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ is going on well and so far 1,860 tractors have been distributed to farmers, while plans are underway to secure 3,000 others for the same purpose.


Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda

A member of the CCM National Executive and Central Committees, Mr Mizengo Pinda, told delegates to the ruling party’s National Congress here the drive aimed at ensuring that more than 80 per cent of farmers in the country have access to farming inputs.“We are talking with the Indian government on the possibilities of securing a loan amounting to 92million dollars from which we will procure some 3000 tractors, that we will distribute to farmers in addition to 1,860 which are already distributed to farmers,” he said.

Mr Pinda, who was reading the report on the implementation of the CCM manifesto, further called on farmers to be sensitive in the way they use the tractors and adhere to technical advice to make the tractors durable.“Our aim is to ensure food security and make sure that 80 per cent of Tanzanians who are mainly rural dwellers and farmers are getting farm inputs,” he said.

He welcomed the involvement of the private sector in various aspects of the economy and decried the tendency to demonise them (investors).He said the private sector has invested more than one trillion shillings in the economy and created employment to the tune of 16,000.Mr Pinda added that the government’s commitment to establish Agriculture Bank was alive and that resources were being mobilised to meet the targets of the required capital which is 500 million dollars.

He called on the politicians and government leaders to lead by example by investing in agriculture.“We can’t continue to tell farmers to increase their efforts in agriculture whereas we leaders don’t even have a one hectare of farmland,” he pointed.He said that without massive investment in agriculture, it would be impossible for the country’s economy to grow as planned.

In another development, Mr Pinda noted that the efforts to modernise agriculture went in tandem with the government’s efforts to strengthen cooperative unions.“The cabinet has proposed that we establish a commission that will specifically deal with cooperative union matters. This will to a large extent improve supervision in the area to ensure efficiency,” he said.

Source Tanzania Daily News
http://in2eastafrica.net/tanzanias-f...ccess-says-pm/

[Geza Ulole]

15th November 12
Two global firms in $210m outlay deal to support rice farmers in Mbeya Region
The Guardian Reporter
The Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund and Global Alternative Asset Manager and the Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) have announced that they will make a strategic minority investment of USD210m in Export Trading Group (ETG), an African agricultural commodities supply chain manager.

Part of the money would be invested in Mbeya rice farms, where the Group would cultivate rice and barley.

This is the first investment by Carlyle’s Sub-Saharan Africa Fund and the Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund. Standard Chartered’s Africa Private Equity division (SCPE), the first private equity investor in ETG, is increasing its investment from January 2012.

Marlon Chigwende, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund, said in a statement issued yesterday in Dar es Salaam: “This is a remarkable opportunity to invest in a business with a proven model that is highly scalable, has delivered impressive financial performance and has tremendous development impact on Africa and its economies.

“We look forward to accelerating ETG’s growth, building value for its shareholders and supporting African smallholder farmers,” he said

For his part, Herc van Wyk, CEO of Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Managers, said the group offers a unique combination of strong management and access to both the agriculture supply chain in Africa as well as key markets in China and India.

“We look forward to supporting the expansion of the company’s supply chain footprint and believe that it offers an exciting growth opportunity.”

Founded in 1967, the group owns and manages a vertically-integrated agriculture supply chain with operations in procurement, processing, warehousing, transportation, distribution and merchandising.

ETG has more than 7,000 employees across 30 African countries including Tanzania, where it operates 26 processing plants and 600 warehouses.
It connects African smallholder farmers to consumers around the world by procuring, processing and distributing agricultural commodities including maize, pulses, wheat, rice, cashew nuts, soya, fertiliser, sugar, coffee and tea.

In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, ETG procured and distributed nearly 1.4 million metric tons of 25 different commodities. Eighty-percent of the company’s Africa-originated stock was procured from smallholder farmers. Individually, these farmers have no opportunity to integrate into the global economy.
However, the Group consolidates hundreds of thousands of farmers into a supply chain and creates the scale and efficiency necessary to be globally competitive. ETG is committed to the economic and social development of the smallholder farmers and the regions in which they live.

Ketan Patel, Managing Director of ETG, said: “We are excited to partner with The Carlyle Group and PembaniRemgro and extend our relationship with Standard Chartered Private Equity. The new capital will allow us to expand operations across Sub-Saharan Africa, India, China and South-East Asia and create new markets for African smallholder farmers.”

Ronald Tamale, a Director at SCPE, added: “We are delighted to welcome The Carlyle Group and Pembani Remgro into the shareholding of ETG. As both a bank and private-equity investor, Standard Chartered has been supporting the growth and development of ETG for many years.

The introduction of these two new shareholders will accelerate our collective efforts to build a world-class global business.”

THE GUARDIAN
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/fun...le.php?l=48045

[Geza Ulole]

Researchers discover new weapon against African crop pests
July 16, 2012 | Filed under: Lead Stories,Regional | Posted by: AfricaSTI
A team of scientists has made a novel discovery that could provide a new strategy for controlling armyworms and other insect crop pests around the globe.
Crop pests such as the African armyworm are a major threat to global food security, especially in Africa and other parts of the developing world where chemical pesticides are too expensive for most resource-poor farmers. The African Armyworm is a voracious caterpillar pest which feeds on cereal crops, including staples such as maize, wheat, millet and rice, at densities of up to 50,000 caterpillars per hectare – sometimes resulting in total crop failure.
Researchers from Lancaster University, University of Greenwich and Tanzania (EcoAgriConsult Ltd.) have been investigating safe, affordable alternative control measures to tackle the caterpillars, such as microbial biopesticides, that do not rely on expensive imported chemicals.
But an unexpected finding – inspired by recent research into mosquitoes – has opened the door to a new strategy which could multiply the effectiveness of these biopesticides.
In common with nearly three-quarters of all insect species, some African armyworms carry with them a small passenger, called Wolbachia. This intra-cellular bacterium has taken centre-stage recently because researchers discovered that when some insects, including mosquitoes, carry Wolbachia it protects them from viruses including the virus which causes the devastating human disease called dengue. Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes have been released in northern Australia in an attempt to get the bacterium to spread through the local mosquito population so as to reduce dengue transmission in the area.
The discovery led the Lancaster-led research team to wonder if Wolbachia would have a similarly protective effect on African armyworms, potentially hampering the effectiveness of the biopesticides such as SpexNPV currently under development in Tanzania.
“Not only did Wolbachia fail to protect the armyworms against SpexNPV”, said project leader Professor Ken Wilson from the Lancaster Environment Centre, “but populations carrying lots of Wolbachia also had much higher viral loads and more of these caterpillars died naturally of viral disease”.
To confirm that the increased susceptibility to virus of Wolbachia-carrying armyworms was caused by the presence of the bacterium, Professor Wilson and colleagues took the insects back to the laboratory in the UK. There, they used antibiotics to ‘cure’ some of the armyworms of Wolbachia and then infected them with virus. Remarkably, they found that Wolbachia-carrying armyworms were between 6 and 14 times more susceptible to SpexNPV than armyworms that had had their bacterial passengers removed.
SpexNPV – a baculovirus that naturally infects and kills the African armyworm – is ideal for use as a biopesticide in Africa because not only can it be produced cheaply and locally, but it only infects armyworm caterpillars, leaving beneficial insects, livestock and humans completely unharmed.
Dr Rob Graham, lead author of the Ecology Letters paper reporting these findings said: “This means that SpexNPV is likely to be particularly effective as a biopesticide when Wolbachia is at naturally high levels in the armyworm population.”
According to another co-author of the study, David Grzywacz of the University of Greenwich, this discovery also opens up the possibility of manipulating the prevalence of the bacterium in the field via the mass-release of Wolbachia-carrying armyworms, though he also sounds a note of caution. He said: “Adult armyworm moths are highly migratory and disperse over vast areas of sub-Saharan Africa, so it will be a challenge to learn how best to exploit these novel findings for better control of African armyworm.”
However, not all major crop pests are as mobile as armyworm moths, and the team are optimistic that if similar results are replicated in other -crop pests, then the mass-release of Wolbachia-infected insects might turn out to be an important new tool in the fight to control pests that contribute to global food insecurity.
http://www.africasti.com/lead-storie...can-crop-pests

[Geza Ulole]

7th October 12
Dar scholar in major discovery after 142yrs
Guardian on Sunday Correspondent

A cassava farmer Christina Mwijibe (2nd R) in Bagamoyo shows Dr Joseph Ndunguru, and his guest, World`s richest person, Bill Gates, how the 142-year old disease has been destroying the crop mid last

After 142 years of dark days for cassava farmers in Tanzania and the rest of Sub Saharan Africa, finally a local researcher has led East African team to a ‘historic breakthrough’, The Guardian on Sunday can reveal today.

In August, this year, Dr Joseph Nduguru (pictured above) from the Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI) and his colleagues from Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa announced their historical discovery of a distinct species (genotype) of the white fly, Bemisia tabaci, which carries the virus that causes two major pests destroying cassava harvests across the region – cassava ‘mosaic’ and ‘brown streak’ viral diseases.
This landmark science breakthrough, whose four-year study was coordinated by Dr Ndunguru, brings a fresh breath of relief to 200 million people who live on a diet of cassava in sub-Saharan Africa – and another 500 million across the third world, the Guardian on Sunday can reveal.
On a larger canvass, the discovery could also spell an end to needless misery from ‘cassava mosaic’ and ‘cassava brown streak’ diseases – both known to have decimated whole crop harvests within a year – and opens opportunities to the region’s scientists to apply state-of-the-art molecular techniques to resolve field problems facing resource-poor farmers.
The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, which funded the study under the aegis of the Regional Cassava Virus Disease Diagnostic Project, has billed Dr Ndunguru and his team as “part of a new generation of African scientists building up the capacity to do innovative science in Africa.”
To his singular credit, Joseph Ndunguru has turned down high-paying job offers from labs in South Africa, Europe and the United States, choosing instead to keep working for the Tanzania national programme.
“I asked him why, and he replied that the work that he was doing with the national program(me) was the best way he could connect state-of-the-art science with the needs of the local farmers,” says Bill Gates in his Annual Letter 2012.
Other scientists who took part in the study are: H. Mugerwa1, M. E. C. Rey, T. Alicai, E. Ateka, H. Atuncha, & P. Sseruwagi.
The lead national institutions in this novel project include the National Crops Resources Research Institute, Kampala, Uganda; Department of Horticulture, Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology and Agriculture, Nairobi, Kenya; Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute, Eastern Zone, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, BraamFontein, Johannesburg, South Africa.
A German scientist first documented B. tabaci in 1870, three centuries after Portuguese sailors introduced the crop to East Africa and Madagascar in the 16th century. Hitherto, cassava was native to Latin America.
The current study, “Genetic diversity and geographic distribution of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) genotypes associated with cassava in East Africa” is arguably the first major regional undertaking by an all-Africa team of experts.
Dr Joseph Ndunguru: Translating ‘science fiction’ into food – and cash -- for the poor.
He grew up on a diet of cassava, the staple food for 700 million people across the third world. He also went through school and university on an income from cassava chips which his mother sold for a living – often walking as far as 30 kilometres to get to her customers. He is Dr Joseph Ndunguru, quote, himself a product of cassava.
On a larger canvass, Dr Ndunguru shares fundamental parallels on development thinking with one of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates, both of whom carry an enduring empathy for the poor bordering on religious faith. While Bill and his wife, Belinda, spend millions of personal wealth in philanthropy, Joseph, a renown plant virologist, literally lives and breathes cassava – on which he now dedicates quality time researching extensively on the crop’s two major infections – ‘cassava mosaic virus’ and ‘cassava brown streak’ diseases.
“If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture,” Bill Gates said earlier this year, addressing himself to the international Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Those sentiments seem to echo what could arguably be termed ‘reverse’ philanthropy – and what could have possibly defined Dr Joseph Ndunguru’s element over the years. He has since turned down lucrative job offers from South Africa, Europe, and the United States to stay home and help more farmers – like his mother – who are out to also give their children a lease of life.
In a way, Bill and Joseph ‘discovered’ each other under situations brewed in crisis; the first man refusing to sit pretty in sequestered wealth in the midst of abject misery across the world, and the other an embodiment of poverty but refusing to seize opportunities join the club of the affluent.
But it was during a real crisis on the ground – the emergence of the first severe spread of cassava diseases across East Africa and Madagascar in 1998 – that sheer providence was to provide a future opportunity for them to forge a meeting of minds.
Spearheaded by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Kampala, Uganda, scientists then faced a two-pronged challenge; working to track and contain the spread of the diseases and training farmers on how to manage the crisis in their backyard plots, often having to tell them what they didn’t want to hear: to get rid of their diseased crop.
Dr Ndunguru last week recalled the collective frustration among scientists across the region at an exclusive interview granted to The Guardian on Sunday, thus:
“When we told farmers to rid their plots of infected plants … at a time when entire harvests could suffer … losses of up to 100 percent were quite common … they asked us, ‘what shall we eat instead? “So we had to give them (near-home) alternatives … yam and sweet potatoes … as we worked on a lasting solution.”
To start with, the farmers didn’t know that they had “sick” harvests in their midst. “They often attributed the symptoms of these diseases to either ‘excessive sunshine’ or some other natural occurrences such as ‘too much water’ … they never suspected any ‘infestation,’” he recalls.
Until then unknown to each other, Bill Gates and Dr Ndunguru were to meet for the first time at a global conference called specifically to address the threat of cassava mosaic and brown streak diseases at a rather unlikely place, Bellagio in Italy, where an equally ‘unlikely’ resolution was moved: the need to form a crop disease diagnostic network in African – with funds managed from Australia!
All the big names in science and the development set (read donors) were there, Dr Ndunguru recalls. After several presentations on call, he also made his mark – arguing that Africa had the expertise and the knowledge to stem the tide. Bill Gates took note and asked him to slate another meeting for Zanzibar later in 2007– where he also made a ‘well received’ presentation.
This was to prove a turning point; for Tanzania and the larger East African region, Australia was effectively shelved as a ‘hub’ for a continental network. A year later (2008), Bill Gates asked Dr Ndunguru to prepare a five-page ‘Concept Note’ which, in development-speak, means a bid nod from a potential donor.
As things stand now, the name ‘Joe’ is quite arguably the toast of the town in Seattle, seat of the Gates’ foundation. In his annual letter this year, Bill Gates describes Dr Ndunguru as “part of a new generation of African scientists building up the capacity to do innovative science in Africa.”
Then he confirmed what many know precious little about this soft-spoken man. “Dr Ndunguru was offered a high-paying job in South Africa, but he chose to keep working for the Tanzania national programme,” Bill Gates says, adding: “I asked him why, and he replied that the work he wa doing with the national programme was the best way he could connect state-of-the-art science with the needs of local farmers.”
“When I talk about innovation, it can be abstract for some people. But the direct link between the challenges Christina faces when her crop is destroyed and the solutions that Dr Ndunguru is working on every day makes it very concrete. Disease-resistant cassava is an answer to Christina’s prayers, and I look forward to the day when Dr. Ndunguru’s work is done and I can go back to Tanzania and see Christina’s field thick with healthy cassava plants. That is why I say that innovation has been and will continue to be the key to improving the world,” Bill Gates says.
GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/fun...le.php?l=46631

[Rain Drops]

Originally Posted by Geza Ulole

Researchers discover new weapon against African crop pests
July 16, 2012 | Filed under: Lead Stories,Regional | Posted by: AfricaSTI
A team of scientists has made a novel discovery that could provide a new strategy for controlling armyworms and other insect crop pests around the globe.
Crop pests such as the African armyworm are a major threat to global food security, especially in Africa and other parts of the developing world where chemical pesticides are too expensive for most resource-poor farmers. The African Armyworm is a voracious caterpillar pest which feeds on cereal crops, including staples such as maize, wheat, millet and rice, at densities of up to 50,000 caterpillars per hectare – sometimes resulting in total crop failure.
Researchers from Lancaster University, University of Greenwich and Tanzania (EcoAgriConsult Ltd.) have been investigating safe, affordable alternative control measures to tackle the caterpillars, such as microbial biopesticides, that do not rely on expensive imported chemicals.
But an unexpected finding – inspired by recent research into mosquitoes – has opened the door to a new strategy which could multiply the effectiveness of these biopesticides.
In common with nearly three-quarters of all insect species, some African armyworms carry with them a small passenger, called Wolbachia. This intra-cellular bacterium has taken centre-stage recently because researchers discovered that when some insects, including mosquitoes, carry Wolbachia it protects them from viruses including the virus which causes the devastating human disease called dengue. Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes have been released in northern Australia in an attempt to get the bacterium to spread through the local mosquito population so as to reduce dengue transmission in the area.
The discovery led the Lancaster-led research team to wonder if Wolbachia would have a similarly protective effect on African armyworms, potentially hampering the effectiveness of the biopesticides such as SpexNPV currently under development in Tanzania.
“Not only did Wolbachia fail to protect the armyworms against SpexNPV”, said project leader Professor Ken Wilson from the Lancaster Environment Centre, “but populations carrying lots of Wolbachia also had much higher viral loads and more of these caterpillars died naturally of viral disease”.
To confirm that the increased susceptibility to virus of Wolbachia-carrying armyworms was caused by the presence of the bacterium, Professor Wilson and colleagues took the insects back to the laboratory in the UK. There, they used antibiotics to ‘cure’ some of the armyworms of Wolbachia and then infected them with virus. Remarkably, they found that Wolbachia-carrying armyworms were between 6 and 14 times more susceptible to SpexNPV than armyworms that had had their bacterial passengers removed.
SpexNPV – a baculovirus that naturally infects and kills the African armyworm – is ideal for use as a biopesticide in Africa because not only can it be produced cheaply and locally, but it only infects armyworm caterpillars, leaving beneficial insects, livestock and humans completely unharmed.
Dr Rob Graham, lead author of the Ecology Letters paper reporting these findings said: “This means that SpexNPV is likely to be particularly effective as a biopesticide when Wolbachia is at naturally high levels in the armyworm population.”
According to another co-author of the study, David Grzywacz of the University of Greenwich, this discovery also opens up the possibility of manipulating the prevalence of the bacterium in the field via the mass-release of Wolbachia-carrying armyworms, though he also sounds a note of caution. He said: “Adult armyworm moths are highly migratory and disperse over vast areas of sub-Saharan Africa, so it will be a challenge to learn how best to exploit these novel findings for better control of African armyworm.”
However, not all major crop pests are as mobile as armyworm moths, and the team are optimistic that if similar results are replicated in other -crop pests, then the mass-release of Wolbachia-infected insects might turn out to be an important new tool in the fight to control pests that contribute to global food insecurity.
http://www.africasti.com/lead-storie...can-crop-pests

Great news, in my home village in Muleba, there is a pest or virus or whatever its called destroying/drying up bananas plantation causing the price to skyrocket. Last I heard, they where still in doubts over what to do.

[Geza Ulole]

Originally Posted by Rain Drops

Great news, in my home village in Muleba, there is a pest or virus or whatever its called destroying/drying up bananas plantation causing the price to skyrocket. Last I heard, they where still in doubts over what to do.

call Dr Nduguru at ur help ASAP....

[Rain Drops]

Originally Posted by Geza Ulole

call Dr Nduguru at ur help ASAP....

By the time i left the village, they said those guys of SUA were still researching and trying to figure out what to do, even the deputy minister of agriculture promised the cure will be ready by the end of the year..but its been 3 years already

Hawa watu saa nyingine wanakatisha tamaa.

[Geza Ulole]

In the land of honey and milk

[Geza Ulole]

Tanzania: Rice production in valleys to triple
By In2EastAfrica Reporter


The amount of rice produced in Kilombero and Rufiji valleys is expected to triple from the current 500,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes by 2015.

Records show that the demand of the rice in the country is much higher than the supply as evidenced by the current prices in most local markets.This indicates that a kilo of rice is sold at between 1,800/- and 2,200/-.

Speaking during a two-day rice stakeholders’ workshop in Dar es Salaam, the coordinator for the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), Dr Mary Shetto, said that Tanzania had every required factor including favourable environment to lead in rice production in Eastern and Central Africa.

“We want to see farmers producing rice in amounts that would surpass local consumption needs enabling Tanzania to be a notable exporter of the globally popular cereal,” Dr Shetto said.

She added that the country was determined to ensure that it becomes one of the largest rice producers in Africa through improved and modern farming techniques.

“Tanzania has high chances of leading in rice production in the Eastern Africa and Central Africa. Rice consumption has tremendously increased in recent years. We thus want to ensure that we produce in abundance while also concentrating on improving local rice processing plants,” she explained.

The Assistant Director for Crop Research in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Dr Hussein Mansoor, who spoke about the challenges that frustrate rice production in the country, said that dependence on rainfall and poor farming techniques were an impediment to large-scale production.

He thus said that new rice growing initiatives would put a lot of focus on irrigation and would use rice species that do not require much water. Dr Mansoor said that the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives is keen on eliminating the challenges that hamper large-scale rice production.

The initial move will involve improving seed quality, enriching soil fertility and controlling fertilizer distribution. The Assistant Director of the Crop Promotion Section in the Ministry, Mr Beatus Malema, said that determination to ensure increase of rice production would be attained through various government projects and development partners’ projects.

Government projects that are to be put in place in the quest for success include the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS), District Agriculture Development Plans (DADPS), Irrigation Development, SAGCOT and Tanzania Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plan (TAFSIP).

He said that production of rice in the country has increased from 712.6 tonnes in 2002/2013 to 1.12 milion tonnes in 2011/2012. Mr Malema said that rice was the second food crop that is widely produced in the world after maize with its popularity gaining momentum in Tanzania.

“Tanzania is among the 25 countries that produce rice in Africa. The country targets to boost production from the 875,120 tonnes recorded in 2007/2008 to 1,750,240 tonnes in 2017/2018,” Mr Malema explained in his presentation.

By CHRISTOPHER MAJALIWA, Tanzania Daily News
http://in2eastafrica.net/tanzania-ri...eys-to-triple/

[Geza Ulole]

Tanzania: More Foreign Agricultural Investments Target Sugar Industry
BY ORTON KIISHWEKO, 6 DECEMBER 2012
THE country's sugar industry expects to largely target export markets in the next four years as more foreign agricultural investments flow in by 2016, a departure from the current situation where there is existence of sugar gap every year, authorities say.

The Sugar Board of Tanzania (SBT) says its nine projects whose implementation will see the country tripling its annual sugar production from the current estimate of 300,000 metric tonnes to 910,000 metric tonnes come 2016, targets the current usually experienced gap sugar. The projects, which are in various stages of implementation, include Rufiji (Coast Region), Kasulu (Kigoma Region), Ikongo (Mara Region), Luiche/ Malagarasi (Kigoma Region), Pangani (Tanga Region), Mahurunga (Mtwara Region) and Kilosa in Morogoro Region.

"These projects should come to fruition come 2016. With the total amount of sugar we are producing, we'll be able to export some to our neighbours in East Africa," the SBT project manager, Mr Abdul Mwankemwa, says. Currently, the country has four major sugar factories with an annual sugar production of at least 300,000 metric tonnes against the demand of 500,000 metric tonnes.

Yet, surprisingly, while the country experiences gap sugar, poor timings in importation of sugar to offset shortages has sometimes created excesses, that have affected businesses of local large-scale producers. However, according to checks conducted by 'Daily News' at plants such as the Kilombero sugar, it is evident that poor distribution network that is dominated by a few greedy middlemen is still a challenge.

The 'Daily News' has learnt that some 40,000 tonnes of unsold sugar for Kilombero's Illovo worth over 10bn/- still remained piled up in godowns and around Kilombero and Dar es Salaam due to failure to secure local markets, until a government export licence a few weeks ago to enable them to sell only 10,000 tonnes of the consignment in the European Union. But following requests to export, Kilombero Sugar Company and Kagera Sugar Company, the two firms among the country's sugar manufacturers, were allowed to export 19,500 tonnes of sugar to European Union, Uganda and Southern Sudan markets.

The development followed the piling up of tens of thousands of stocks of sugar in the companies' godowns in Dar es Salaam and at the premises in Kilombero and Kagera. A subsequent meeting between the Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives, Engineer Christopher Chiza with sugar companies agreed that the two sugar firms could no longer withstand the problem. The minister said the companies were allowed to offload part of the unsold sugar to settle the out-growers' arrears as well bolster their cash flows.

Confirming the reports, the Chairman of the Sugar Board of Tanzania, Mr Castor Ligarama said that the export licence given allowed Kilombero Sugar Company to export 10,000 tonnes of sugar to sustain the company's healthy cash flows. The company expects to export the 10,000 tonnes to the European Union markets. "So it would not be prudent to leave such a situation to go on and rains come to destroy their sugar yet we have a better option of letting them export some sugar to the international markets," he said.

He said Kagera sugar would sell 9,500 tonnes to regional markets of Uganda and Southern Sudan. "If sugar piles up, the factory can stop operations and thus not buy cane from the small scale out growers," said Mr Ligarama. The country's sugar consumption stands at 480,000 tonnes per year but the four factories - Tanganyika Plantation Company, Kilombero, Kagera and Mtibwa Sugar - produce only 320,000 tonnes, translating into a current deficit of 160,000 tonnes of sugar that is filled by importation.

He said importers had been given importation licence in September to bring in sugar to bridge the gap at the time but noted that they had delayed to bring in the sugar and by the time they brought the product in the country, the gap sugar had gone down already. In an interview with the 'Daily News,' the Kilombero Sugar Company Limited Managing Director, Mr Don Carter Brown said it was important for them to be able to sell their sugar so that their cash flow continues in a sustainable manner.

He said that last season, the company paid 34.4bn/- to small scale out growers and the money largely remains in local economy of Morogoro region. He said it was the first time the firm has faced the challenge of such magnitude with huge consignment of sugar being stranded. Tanzania is a deficit sugar producing country because local production does not meet demand.

Normally, the demand gap is covered by licensed imported sugar that has to arrive in the country at the time when all factories have closed for maintenance or have less stocks for sale. The Minister, Engineer Christopher Chiza, blamed poor distribution system as one of the major reasons pushing up sugar prices in the local market despite high supply of the commodity.

"There is need to have official distributors of the commodity to ensure that consumers get it at an affordable price," he added. For example, he said he has received a case from the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) after the Tanganyika Planting Company Limited (TPC) refused to supply it with sugar only because it was selling to final consumers at a price between 1,700/- and 1,800/-.

"This is a typical case showing complications in the distribution systems, which affect largely final prices to the ultimate consumer," he said. Tanzania's sugar consumption stands at 480,000 tonnes per annum, but the four factories, namely the Tanganyika Plantation Company (TPC), Kilombero, Kagera and Mtibwa produce only 320,000 tonnes. This translates to a current deficit of 160,000 tonnes of sugar, with the excess demand filled by importation.

So far, current production in the country is only about two thirds of total demand, despite availability of plenty arable land and favourable climate suitable for sugarcane cultivation. Statistics show that there were more than 50,000 tonnes of unsold stocks of sugar worth over 1bn/- still piled up in godowns of factories after failure to secure the market locally. "After undertaking consultations with the sugar technical committee and after verifying that there were unsold stocks piled up in the factories, the government issued permits to the factories to sell the commodity in East Africa," Eng. Chiza said.

However, he said, last month some suppliers came again to seek export permits to the European markets after failing to get premium prices in the East African countries. "Currently, the government is carrying consultations with various experts including the Sugar technical committee to determine possible effects which could arise in case export permits are granted to sell the commodity to the EU market," he said.

In comparison with the other countries in the region, Eng. Chiza said prices in the local market are still minimal apart from being determined by the market forces. The Sugar Board of Tanzania (SBT) Chairman, Mr Castor Ligallama, said in an interview that some manufacturers are seeking permission to offload the unsold sugar stocks in order to settle the out-growers arrears as well bolstering their cash flows.

"Delays in introducing imported sugar until the time when local factories had resumed production is the major reason for the surplus supply of the commodity in the local market," remarked Mr Ligallama. Tanzania has four major factories - Kilombero and Mtibwa based in Morogoro, Kagera Sugar Company and TPC sugar factory in Moshi in Kilimanjaro Region.

They have a combined capacity of at least 300,000 metric tonnes a year, according to the Tanzania Sugar Board project manager, Mr Abdul Mwankemwa. In the 2011/12 financial year, he said, the government issued permits for importing 200,000 metric tonnes of sugar tax-free. Of this, registered companies were able to import 150,000 metric tonnes only.
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