THE newly introduced Digital Fertiliser Subsidy has received support from farmers in the country, where about 194.3 tonnes of fertiliser had been purchased as of January 09, 2023.
The revelation was made here by the Tanzania Fertiliser Regulatory Authority Executive Director, Dr Stephan Ngailo during a symposium with editors from various media houses, an event that was attended by the Minister for Agriculture, Hussein Bashe.
According to Dr Ngailo, about 560,451 farmers have benefited from the new system, thanks to President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s approval of 150bn/- for fertiliser subsidy in the 2022/23 budget for the Ministry of Agriculture.
During this year’s budget, the government asked Members of Parliament to approve 150bn/- for fertiliser subsidy in efforts to increase food productivity in the country, and according to Mr Bashe, the Ministry of Finance and Planning had started disbursing the money.
According to Mr Bashe, the project had added to the state coffers about 192.5bn/- as of December 31, 2022.
The Minister revealed that Dr Samia will soon launch one of the biggest fertiliser factories located in the capital city—Dodoma which will have the capacity to produce one million metric tonnes, thus supplementing the infamous Minjingu Plant which produces 300,000 tonnes.
In total, he said the country will have the production capacity of about 1.3 million metric tonnes of fertilisers per year.
During his presentation, Dr Ngailo said the ongoing Digital Fertiliser Programme had attracted many farmers who were now accessing fertiliser without any disturbances.
