RUKWA: THEY call it hard to reach while some regard it as a marginalised region due to being too far from Dar es Salaam, a business city of Tanzania.
However, there is more to the region than meets the eye. Welcome to Rukwa, a region endowed with so much that it is only fair to call it the hub of food security in the country as well as hospitality.
Rukwa Region lies in the extreme south western part of Tanzania and is a land of agriculture with food in abundance. Rated among the Big Five in terms of food production in the country, the region is located about 1200 km by road from the commercial and administrative centres of Dar es Salaam and Dodoma respectively.
Unlike in the past where it took almost three days from Dar es Salaam to reach Sumbawanga the headquarters of Rukwa Region, the road from the business city is now tarmac.
This nature of the road infrastructure has significantly made the region even more strategic in terms of investment as one can alternate to either travel by train from Dar all ways to Tunduma and connect with a bus to reduce the distance or fly to Mpanda, Katavi Region and then travel by road for five hours and pass through the beautiful Katavi National Park.
The best news is, construction of the airport in Sumbawanga is in progress and soon there will be some straight flights from Dar.
Reasons why investors should go to Rukwa Region Food Security A serious investor would want to sleep with a full stomach at a reasonable price and this is exactly where I would advise one to go there because with 10 thousand shillings one is guaranteed of a full basket of food stuff.
Food is very affordable and rather cheap. For instance, a kilogramme of quality rice costs only 1, 400/-. The Investment aspect Rukwa is the land of Agriculture with people’s livelihood depending on it by 80 per cent. The region is one among the Top five in terms of food production in the country with food crops ranging from maize, paddy, beans, wheat, millet and cassava.
Others are sunflower, groundnuts, sesame, barley and various vegetables. There is always surplus in production especially of maize, paddy, cassava, sunflower and sesame.
The surplus provides wide room for investment in primary and secondary agro processing (food processing industries such as milling, oil extracting and refining plants, animal feeds), agro processing equipment supply chain (farm machineries and farm inputs) and the human capital development in agro processing.
In addition, there is also an opportunity for construction of warehouses and transportation of finished agricultural products. The main staple foods are maize, rice and beans with exception of some parts along Lake Tanganyika and Rukwa where cassava and rice are the main source of food.
Other food crops widely available include groundnuts, finger millet, potatoes, sorghum, wheat and sugarcane. Meat is easily available from the Agro pastoral’s community who traditionally keep varieties of domestic animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits’ chicken, ducks, guinea fowls and pigeons.
Fish lovers may also wish to know that the region is endowed with a variety of fish species as 58 per cent of Lake Tanganyika is in the region and not to mention of Lake Rukwa, a home to the famous Kalambo falls. According to the region’s profile 102,260 tonnes of fish were produced between 1997 and 2002, totalling 3.4bn/-. 99 per cent of the fish captured in the Nkasi District.
Apart from the two large lakes, other smaller lakes and rivers exist. Fish species range from sardines, tilapia, nile perch, mud fish, luciolates strapessil “Migebuka” and numerous ornamental fish species are among the varieties of fish that may be found in the region.
Rukwa is also among potential destinations when it comes to mining investment in Tanzania with a large deposit of gemstones such as emerald and base metal and industrial minerals such as Kaolin, Quartz, graphite, tin, Limonite and copper cobalt.
There is also ample resources for generation of power including hydro, coal and biofuels. It suffices to say the region is a prime destination for mining investment in the country.
Current Exploration in Oil and Gas is ongoing along Lake Tanganyika and has shown promising sign for existence of oil and Gas.
During my stay here, I and fellow scribes get the chance to visit the Sabasaba fish market where we see a variety of delicacies and for a while there, I feel like moving the market to Dar where I live. I also see some rice with aroma grown in the region.
Throughout my stay I munch to either local grown chicken or fish and nothing less than the rice. Our time here has come to an end and we have to leave for now, but for sure we can never forget this beautiful region and food lovers like myself promise to come back very soon. One last thing, those of you who think Dar es Salaam is Tanzania should go to Rukwa and see what you are missing.
Trust me you would not want to come back here especially after you realise that with 10k at the market you can return home with a full basket.
My call is for those interested in serious investment to go to the Rukwa Region to exploit all the untapped resources and food stuff as the region is very reachable with a conducive environment for investment. As for tourism, there is so much inclusive of the Kalambo Falls.
The writer is a journalist as well as an Executive Director for the Tanzania Media for Community Development, reachable via sangunangwa@gmail.com.
