BY GERALD KITABU
2nd October 2013
Handing over the grant yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Japanese Ambassador in Tanzania, Masaki Okada said that the fertilizers would be sold to small scale farmers at affordable prices to improve their productivity.
He said the donation intends to support Tanzania in its efforts to achieve higher productivity through enhanced utilization of fertilizer by small holders in the country.
“This project aims to ensure food security in Tanzania. While the nation has been enjoying a relatively high self sufficiency ratio of food, its food security has not been fully attained yet” he said.
Minister for Agriculture, Food security and Cooperatives, Eng. Christopher Chiza thanked the government of Japan saying the grant would help secure appropriate tools needed to address agricultural challenges especially at this period when the government is working hard to provide fertilizer subsidies to all farmers.
“This grant has come the right time, just when we are working to increase provision of government subsidized fertilizers to the small scale famers to increase their productivity,” Chiza underlined.
Japan’s assistance policy to Tanzania expresses the significance of agricultural development in and places high priority in agriculture as well as infrastructure and governance. For over the last 30 years, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has conducted various technical cooperation projects as well as issued grant aid and loans for construction of irrigation schemes and training institution.
The Grant Assistance for the Food Security Project for Underprivileged Farmers (2KR) is provided for purchasing agricultural equipment such as machinery and fertilizer to help increase production of food crops such as rice, wheat, and maize in developing countries where there are food shortages.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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