Food self-sufficiency hits 128pc

DODOMA: THE country has maintained food self-sufficiency at a rate of 128 per cent, a trend that results from an increase of food production from 20.4 million tonnes in 2022/2023 to 22.8 million tonnes in 2023/2024 farming seasons.

This was said by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa while tabling the budget estimates of his Office for 2025/2026 fiscal year as well as review and direction of government activities in the National Assembly, on Tues day in Dodoma.

“This surge can be cred ited to an increase in the use of fertilisers made available to farmers via the subsidy programme, the expansion of irrigation farming, im proved extension services and the adoption of high-quality seeds,” said Mr Majaliwa.

He said alongside the implementation of the Agri cultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP), the government has continued to execute robust strategies to advance the sector, which includes providing seeds and agricultur al inputs, of fering farmers , and strengthening coopera tives.

Speaking about irrigation farming, the Premier pointed out that the government has continued to strengthen ir rigation farming by increas ing the irrigated land from 694,715 hectares in 2023/2024 to 727,280.6 hectares in 2024/2025.

He said the increase has been driven by the comple tion of three irrigation schemes namely Tlawi in Manyara Region in the first phase, Magurukenda and Sukuma in Buchosa, construction of three reservoirs of Tlawi in Manyara, Ulyanyama and Goweko in Tabora, along with the renovation of six irrigation schemes.

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Additionally, the work is currently underway involving the construction of 50 new schemes, 16 reservoirs and the renovation of 42 existing schemes.

Mr Majaliwa explained that there is an improvement in the availability fertilisers in the country, with a total of 1.21 million tonnes recorded by January 31, 2025, equaling 80.9 per cent of the estimated demand of 1.5 million tonnes of fertiliser for the 2024/2025.

“In the 2024/2025 farming season, a subsidised amount of 388,619.87 tonnes of fertiliser worth 131.66bn/- has been disbursed to more than 4.2 million farmers,” he said.

The Premier underlined the importance of extension services for agricultural productivity, asserting that the government has procured about 555 motorcycles, 3,500 tablets, 40 vehicles and 1,000 extension boxes, along with the ongoing construction of 50 houses for extension officers.

In line with this, Mr Majaliwa stated that the government has continued to improve the services provided by the Agricultural Development Bank to strengthen and expand access to affordable loans for farmers.

He noted that in 2024, loans guaranteed by the bank reached 131bn/- that was disbursed to 5,865 farmers for projects in agricultural value chain including distribution of farming inputs, purchasing crops and farming equipment.

Speaking about cooperatives, he asserted that the government is enhancing cooperatives by implementing a digital management system, which has successfully registered 6,570 cooperatives and verified data for over 2.2 million individuals not officially recognised as members.

He further noted that the government is effectively coordinating and managing farmers’ produce sales through cooperatives in which by February 2025, 2.22 million tonnes valued at 4.23tri/-were sold via the official cooperative system, versus 1.64 million tonnes sold for 1.98tri/-in 2023/2024.