BALTON TANZANIA LAUNCHES FARMERS TRAINING CENTRE IN ARUSHA

 

Guest of Honor and Executive Director of Tanzania Seed Dealers (TASTA) Bob Shuma speaking to farmers and seed distributors at the launch of the farm class

The General Manager of Balton Tanzania, Ravi Periyasamy speaks with reporters

The Balton Tanzania  Country Director Chris Keeping speaking to farmers and seed distributors in the country at the launch of a farm class for the farmers

BY: ANDREA NGOBOLE, Arusha

 


The Balton Tanzania seed distribution company has Officially launched the Baltons farmers training centre at the balton Tanzania Office.

The Balton Tanzania office which is  located in Block A, Olorien area, lower Ngaramtoni, opposite Arusha Airpot, Dodoma Road has showcase of the demo farm that Balton Tanzania has been setting up for the last six months.

The launch of the farmers training centre were in partnership with semins, Hence dabbed the Balton Semins open day.

Presenting at the launch were approximately three hundreds small scale farmers, twenty large scale farmers, thirty seed distributors, Government Organization and Non-Government Organization (NGO's).

It is said that Agriculture in Tanzania represents almost thirty percent of the country's GDP, with three quarters of the country's Workforce involved in Agriculture.

Roughly eighty percent of the Agriculture Production is subsistence Farmers.

The Balton Training Centre is a centre of excellency that will be used  for training purposes with a focus on a small scale farmers and imparting on them Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), technical Knowledge and the use of Technology in modern day farming. Presently the crops that have been planted on the farm  are tomatoes, onions, sweet-pepper, cabbage, watermelon and others.


Speaking with the farmers this weekend at the launch of the Farm training centre for farmers, CEO of Tanzania Seed Traders Association (TASTA) Bob Shuma, said that good seeds that  the Farmers training centre will increase food production in the country.

Shuma has asked farmers to learn more on the use of quality seeds to increase their crop production.

He said, if the Farmers will use Quality seeds Tanzania will have the ability to increase food production and even export to neighbors country and thus increase foreign income.

The Country Manager for Balton Tanzania and Rwanda, Chris Keeping said that if farmers in Tanzania, use quality and good seeds, they can increase food production and thus export their crops.


Keeping said that they have started planting seeds of tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, cabbage, watermelon and vegetables so that farmers can use the seeds to increase the production of various crops and be able to sell the crops abroad.

The manager of Balton Tanzania, Ravi Periyasamy has said that the Farmers Training centre will continue to provide training to small scale farmers and seed distributors in the country, in order to increase food production in the country.


Periyasamy said that new seeds that have started to be distributed by the Balton Tanzania, take into account the effects of climate change, which has led to a decrease of food production.

The Small scale Farmer, Meshack Lwenje has said that the production of their crops has dropped due to the decrease of rainfall and the lack of seeds that are resistant to drought.

The Agrovet dealer Delinetha John of Fide Mamba store in Babati, Manyara region praised Balton for coming up with quality seeds that are drought tolerant.