BBT wins global accolades

  • FAO pledges support to uplift TZ youths, women
  • PM lures investors, traders from Italy

ROME, Italy: FOOD and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) Director General Dr Qu Dongyu is pleased with an implementation of the Tanzania Building Better Tomorrow Youth Initiative for Agribusiness (BBT-YIA), pledging support for the country to realise its goals of uplifting its youth and women.

Dr Qu expressed his approval to the programme on Wednesday during his meeting with Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

“FAO is going to back the project for Tanzania to realise its goals of uplifting its youths and women in the agricultural sector in line with one of the organisation’s meeting agendas of 2023,” said Dr Qu.

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The DG however extended recognition to President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan for fostering the agriculture sector as well as improving relations with international organisations.

Besides, the FAO boss pledged to visit Tanzania next year to witness the country’s agricultural development and finalise discussion between the country and the organisation in further improving the agriculture sector and blue economy.

Prime Minister Majaliwa, who is in Italy to represent Dr Samia at the World Food Forum’s (WFF) Agrifood Systems, which began on October 16-20, this year, said that Tanzania is embarking on expanding its   sector from relying on rain fed agriculture to irrigation farming.

According to him, the government has allocated over 900bn/- to cushion the agricultural sector, insisting that agriculture is life.

“The country has focused on irrigation farming through the country’s dams and other irrigation infrastructure …we want to ensure that no Tanzania dies of hunger,” said Mr Majaliwa.

He underscored the importance of implementing various initiatives to improve the agriculture sector to ultimately produce enough food for consumption and a surplus for export.

The PM noted that the government has introduced digital registration for farmers for the objective of establishing the number of farmers, the crops they grow and the size of farms they cultivate. According to the PM, the goal is to enable the government to have reliable statistics for effective      service delivery.

In another development, Prime Minister Majaliwa has invited investors and other traders from Italy to come and invest in the Tanzania’s industrial sector, assuring them of reliable supply of raw materials and market advantage.

The Premier noted this during the third Tanzania-Italia Business Forum held at Palazzo Regione Lombardia, Milan in Italy.

He outlined some of the areas for investment including mining, agriculture, communication, livestock, fisheries, tourism and health, calling upon the investors to take advantage of the opportunity by coming to invest in the country.

Apart from Tanzania having friendly and conducive investment climate, he said, the country is endowed with many tourist attraction sites,  inviting international tour operators and investors to come and explore the hospitality and tourism sector in various parts of the country, including  Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha  and Dodoma regions.

Currently, the government is continuing to improve infrastructure, including in transport infrastructure such as the state-of-the-art railway, roads, airports and energy projects so as to facilitate business and investment.

For his part, Tanzania Ambassador to Italy Mahmoud Thabit Kombo assured maximum cooperation to the investors and traders from Italy, who need to do business with Tanzania.

The Business and Investment Forum attracted 300 participants from the two nations including directors and heads of institutions from both Mainland and Zanzibar.

Among the institutions include the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade), Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) and Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA) who got an opportunity to highlight on the investment opportunities available in the country and procedures of reaching the areas.

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