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| The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Agricultural Seed Research Agency (ASA), Dr. Sophia Kashenge |
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| The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Agricultural Seed Research Agency (ASA), Dr. Sophia Kashenge |
By Valentine Oforo, Dodoma
THE government is working on a process to establish a vast farm for the production of wheat seeds varieties in Makete district of Njombe region, being in concerted efforts to boost the general production of the economic cash crop in the country.
The envisaged seed farm, to be established through the Tanzania Agricultural Seed Agency (ASA) in the fast-growing district will help to bridge a tall shortage of seeds varieties for the crop in Tanzania through producing enough improved varieties, including ‘Juhudi’ and ‘Sifa’.
ASA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Sophia Kashenge informed that the prospectus seed farm will cover a total of 1,000 and to start with, the expectation is to produce between 2,500 to 3,000 tons of wheat seeds.
“We’re very eager to embark into implementation of the project in order to help solve the long-standing challenge of shortage of wheat seeds in the country,” she expressed.
Unveiling specific data, Dr. Kashenge informed that demand for the wheat seeds in the country was around 30,000 tons annually but what is currently being produced is less than 500 tons, prompting poor production among the local farmers.
As an urgent and short-term measure to help curtail the poor situation, Dr. Kashenge revealed that the state-owned seeds agency was running a process to import at least 500 tons of wheat seeds to help assist the local farmers in this growing season.
“The vision is to assure the farmers are at least getting adequate seeds in this growing season while we’re working to expand home production with an eye to ensure sustainable abundance of seeds production and supply in the coming seasons,” she assured.
Moreover, the ASA’s chief boss underscored the need for the accumulation of more lands to enable vast production for the vital seeds in all areas of the country where the starch-grass crop can flourish.
The government is now resulting in transforming the country’s Southern Highlands, especially the Makete district, into wheat production corridor as demand for the produce heightens locally, as well as in the world market.
As part of the aspiration, the government is thus embarking onto an ambitious strategy for improving and increasing wheat production in the Makete district of Njombe region, mapped within the Southern Highland Zone.
Wheat is among important crop for food and income generation in Tanzania, but despite of its importance, the production of the crop remains significant low, around 100,000MT annually, compared to the crop demand of of 1,000,000 MT per year.
The low production is ‘arm-twisting; the government to annually import about 90 percent of wheat for home consumption, whereby the current average yield per hectare is estimated at 1.6 tons and strategies of increasing productivity through intensification and intensification to attain at least 3.0 tons per hectare is in place, among others.
The Makate district is currently producing 8,242 tons of wheat from the district’s estates. Recently, the ministry of agriculture trough the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) has hatched an important initiative in the district, which intends to double the rate of production at the moment, then increase it to reach an output of more than 200,000 tons by the year 2026.
Among others, the timely initiative focuses on increasing the area meant for wheat production in the district from the current 17,120 hectares to a total of 118,000 hectares by 2026.
The development, if it prevails, will see the local wheat farmers earning bank bursting 1.73m/- per hectare of harvest from the current value of 750,000/-per hectare.
Moreover, the development will also see a single hectare churns out 1.5 tons of wheat, which should be more than thrice the current output peaking at 0.5 tons per hectare, with application of proper farm inputs, including proper fertilizers as well as improved seeds varieties
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