FORMER Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has hailed the Tanzania’s Building a Better Tomorrow (BBT-YIA) programme, saying the model should be replicated across the Africa.
Visiting the 37 youths undergoing horticulture farming practical training under BBT’s incubation centre run jointly by TAHA and Horti-Tengeru College on the slopes of Mount Meru, Desalegn said the model could be a game changer in commercialising horticulture cultivation in Africa.
Inaugurated by the Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa in August 2022, a brainchild of the Ministry of Agriculture, an ambitious BBT programme’s objective is to enhance the engagement of youths in the agricultural sector for sustainable and improved livelihoods.
“BBT Programme will be an example for Africa and should be replicated, if we are to commercialise our agriculture, in particular, horticulture farming with youths and women at the centre to scale-up production” he explained.
The former Ethiopian PM was on a familiarisation tour at TAHA headquarters where he had long-talks with the board chairman, Engineer Zebadia Moshi and the management under TAHA CEO, Dr Jacqueline Mkindi, over the horticulture industry-related issues.
Mr Desalegn, who is credited as an African champion of modern agriculture transformation, said that the hope and future of Tanzania’s economy lies on commercialisation of horticulture farming.
The former prime Minister of Ethiopia who was recently appointed by the President Samia Suluhu Hassan as a co-chair of a Presidential Food and Agriculture Delivery Council said Tanzania has what it takes to be Africa’s major producer of horticultural crops.
“The entire Tanzanian land is productive – the country is blessed with a super land. Tanzania’s potential is huge and can feed the entire Africa, if it harnesses its agricultural potential,” he explained, hailing TAHA for exemplary work in developing horticulture industry to spur its export value from 60 million US dollars in 2006 to nearly 800 million US dollars in 2019.
Ethiopia had been declared a centre of excellence in Africa in terms of agricultural transformation during his regime, where the agriculture, particularly, horticulture boomed.
Sharing the secret behind the feat, Mr Desalegn said Ethiopia had achieved substantial progress in triggering and generating sustained agricultural growth due to political will and tremendous policy change.
“At the centre of these favourable changes is an important political commitment that early on we recognised the need to put agriculture at the centre of our development agenda” he said.
This, Mr Desalegn added, fundamentally shaped Ethiopia’s approach to addressing its age-old problems of structural bottlenecks for development.
“As such, the government envisioned overall development around an agriculture-first and then industrialise approach with a series of strategies put in place to execute this grand vision” he explained.
TAHA Board Chairman, Engineer Zebadia Moshi expressed gratitudes to the former Ethiopian Prime Minister for his maiden tour to TAHA and its members.
“We know Ethiopia was designated as a centre of excellence in Agriculture transformation in Africa under your regime, so your insight will help us take the horticulture industry to the next level” Engineer Moshi explained.
TAHA CEO, Dr Jacqueline Mkindi said the industry earned the economy 779 million US dollars in 2019, up from $60 million in 2006, making horticulture a nascent enterprise to watch in terms of creating jobs and wealth.
“The government has developed a strategy intending to spur horticulture industry to earn the economy 2.0 billion US dollars per year and create decent employment to a critical mass of youths and women along the entire value chain come 2030,” she noted.