Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
Tanzania: Mbeya, Rukwa Show the Way in Modern Agriculture

Pudenciana Temba
28 April 2011

ONE of major promises made by the ruling party (CCM) in its 2005 and last year's election campaign was improvement of agriculture and livestock sectors including availing subsidies to agricultural inputs and implements.

Section 30 and 31 of the 2005 CCM Election Manifesto stresses the need to revolutionize agriculture with a view to enhance productivity and improve the lives of farmers and the country's economy in general. And indeed, Rukwa and Mbeya regions have made strides in the agricultural sector by producing, not only what they needed, but also surplus which was injected in the country bread basket to cater for areas facing food shortage.

This was possible because of the excellent climatic conditions and fertile land the two regions are endowed with compared to many regions in the country. This is why the two regions are among the big six maize producers in the country. Mbeya Regional Commissioner, Mr John Mwakipesile says apart from the natural resource the region has, the secret behind the success is hard work by Mbeya people.

"Mbeya is a region where you need not to push people to work on their farms. Everyone knows what to do and what is expected of them," he says, adding; "The only noise you will hear from farmers is when there is shortage of farm inputs or implements. You will hear we need more fertilizer or seeds over here and cries if there is o enough rain which is quite rare."

He said people in the area value agriculture because majority of them agriculture is what they depend on for their livelihood and they have seen their lives improving one stage after another from money they earn from agricultural produce. "People have been able to send their children to school, cater for their health when they fall sick, build modern houses, buy cars and even open up businesses by using money generated from the agricultural produce," he says.
On the other hand, Rukwa Regional Commissioner Mr Daniel Ole Njoolay says anyone who does not value agriculture in the region is looked upon like an outcast among fellow villagers. "People are born seeing parents and other members of the family work hard in the farms and they grow up that way. So this is passed on from one generation to another," he said, adding; "We have never experienced food shortage or hunger in Rukwa region."

Mr Njoolay says Rukwa region expects bumper harvest this year and officials from the Strategic Grain Reserve are already in the region to buy the surplus food that will be produced. Highlighting successes recorded in the sector in the past five years, Mr Njoolay said, acreage put under cultivation grew from 68,440 in 2005 to 109,388.7 which is an increase of 59.8 per cent.

The number of power tillers also grew from three in 2005 to 225 last year, a 740 per cent increase, while that of tractors went up to 85 last year from 54 in 2005. The use of improved seeds grew to 4025.5 tonnes last year from 323.6 tonnes in 2005 and the use of fertilizer grew from 5,173 tonnes in 2005 to 18,644.5 last year, a 260.4 per cent growth.

The application of subsidized fertilizer also went up to 13,400 tonnes last year from 782.8 tonnes, a 16.2 per cent increase. As for irrigation farming, 27,136 hectares were put under cultivation last year up from 20,191 hectares in 2005. There was a 176.9 per cent increase of cattle dips use last year from 13 in 2005 to 36 last year.

Food crops tonnage reached 1,969, 873.8 last year from 1,058,377.5 in 2005 while that of cash crops went up to 269,057.1 compared to 75,354.2 in 2005.As for Mbeya Region, Mr Mwakipesile says, agriculture budget grew to 9.2bn/- last year from 748.5 in 2005 Land put under cash crop agriculture grew to 110,436.6 hectares last year, from 90,936 hectares during the period under review while food crops production went up to 3.4 million tones from 1.7 million tones in 2005 and cash crops tonnage stood at 184,937 tonnes last year from 98,829 tonnes in 2005.

Use of fertilizer grew from 92,796.2 tons in 2005 to 284, 966.5 tons last year and subsidized fertilizer from 12,269.9 tons in 2005 to 26,960 tons last year. Use of animal drawn ploughs also grew from 49, 591 in 2005 to 57,980 last year, while that of improved seeds went up to 73,167.33 tons last year from 42,665.3 during the period under review.

Power tillers deployed last year were 705 compared to 130 in 2005 and the target is to have 1,534 by 2015; whereas 366 tractors were used last year from 248 in 2005. There was no significant use of tractors during the period under review because many farmers acquired own power tillers. Irrigated land acreage grew to 45,350 last year from 34,140 in 2005 and target is to have 57,951 hectares by 2015.

During 2009/10, a 3.7bn/- has been set aside for irrigation projects in Mbozi, Mbarali, Kyela, Rungwe, Mbeya and Ileje districts. The number of cattle dips in the region also reached 94 last year from 58 in 2005 while the number of artificial insemination officials grew to 71 last year from 21 in 2005.

Subsidized cattle dip chemicals also increased to 41,846 litres from none in 2005, RCs from the two regions said they have put more strategies to even achieve higher agricultural earnings in the coming five years and beyond. Despite the fact that some other regions have poor weather conditions and soil, they should also borrow a leaf from Mbeya and Rukwa of hard work and utilization of resources available to better their lives and improve the country's economy.