DODOMA: COTTON Victoria Project (CVP), the country’s major initiative which focuses at assisting farmers to heighten production and productivity is targeting at least 600,000 farmers in regions with potential to grow the fibre crop within the country.
The regions include Mwanza, Simiyu, Geita, Shinyanga, Tabora, Katavi, Kigoma, Singida, Songwe, Morogoro, and Mara.
The project coordinator, Dr Paul Saidia, unveiled the plan during the National Technical Committee meeting, saying the project has so far impacted 517, 343 farmers in 11 regions with cotton production, saying the vision is to reach out to 600,000 farmers.
Through the project, he said , the referred farmers are trained to adopt the recommended new planting space of 60 centimetres from row to row, and 30 centimetres from hole to hole, bringing the number of the cotton plants to 44,444 per acre from the formal 22,222 plants.
With the new planting space, Dr Saidia observed, the farmers are now managing to yield bumper, up to between 1,500 and 3,000 tons per acre, contrary to the former low yields of between 200 and 300 tons.
Moreover, he said that through effective practical training, the farmers have successfully managed to develop and adopt use of biopesticides, as well as natural farming practices, to assist them contain various cotton diseases.
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Through the initiative, he said that Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) is bridging efforts with the BioSustain Tanzania Limited to train and mentor the involved farmers on how best to develop and apply various biopesticides in order to grow cotton organically, and also withstand effects of climate change against the fibre crop.
So far, he said, a total of 217,060 farmers in the country have successfully adopted the new planting space.
“The new planting space has been greenlighted by the Ministry of Agriculture and thus, we’re remaining optimistic that it will play major role to help elevate productivity of the cotton sub- sector even after phasing out of the project,” Dr Saidia observed.
According to him, the farmers are also trained on seed dressing, the vital process of applying a thin layer of active product on the surface of the seed that can be any organic or inorganic compounds, and it can also include pesticides, fertilizers, and some growth promoters.
The 5,802,019.08 US$ worth project is implemented jointly with other stakeholders, including Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB), BioSustain Tanzania Limited, Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), Brazilian Cotton Institute (IBA), and the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA).
