FERTILISER manufacturer, Yara Tanzania, is set to hold a major meeting of agriculture stakeholders in the rich food basket of Southern Highlands, to dialogue on challenges and opportunities for Tanzania’s agricultural transformation agenda.
Mbeya City’s Nanenane grounds will host the Yara Kilimo Expo, 2023, themed -‘Making Tanzania Africa’s Food Basket.’
The five-day meeting kicks off on Monday and will be attended by hundreds of farmers, researchers, institutions of higher learning and representatives of public agencies, private companies, agri-associations and international development agencies, among others.
Preparations for the launch are complete, with the company’s Managing Director Winstone Odhiambo exuding confidence about the outcome of the event which is the company’s initiative to stimulate dialogue around critical issues in the sector.
Yara Tanzania is a crop nutrition company providing farmers with knowledge and best practice to sustainably improve quality of yields and raise farmers’ income while contributing to attaining food security and protecting the environment.
“As a player in Tanzania’s agriculture value stream, our commitment is to work closely with like-minded stakeholders to advance the country’s food security, and the overall agenda to transform the sector to contribute substantially in national economic and social development,” said Mr Odhiambo ahead of the expo.
“The Expo is our new initiative seeking to contribute to and enhance efforts in the country’s national agricultural transformation agenda through stimulation of dialogue, forging alliances and partnerships, providing stakeholders with a platform for expert knowledge sharing, showcasing of products, best practices and investment opportunities,” he added.
Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe is expected to officiate at the peak of the expo, a high-level symposium on Wednesday, drawing together captains of industry to take stock of the transformation journey so far.
The symposium will discuss efforts aimed at making the Southern Highlands and Tanzania as a country in general, a leading food producer in Africa, including how to bring more young men and women into agriculture, agri-business investment and partnerships, food security and climate change.
According to Mr Odhiambo, another major focus during the week will be a town hall conference of farmers drawn from the surrounding regions, on Tuesday.
Discussions during the farmers’ meeting will focus on the strategic food and cash crops being promoted in the Southern Highlands by the government.
Mbeya Regional Commissioner Zuberi Homera will officiate at the farmers event, according to organisers who noted that the expo has been planned in close collaboration with the ministry of agriculture.
The key sponsors of the event are CRDB Bank, Equity Bank, PASS, NBC Bank, Mwananchi Communications, SGA Security and Bomba FM.
The Yara Kilimo Expo is billed as one of the buildup activities towards the Africa Food Systems Forum (AGRF) scheduled for early September 2023, in Tanzania. Additionally, it will serve as a curtain raiser to the annual Nanenane national agricultural show, also to be held shortly afterwards, in the same region and venue.
Other than the Farmers’ Townhall dialogue and the high-level expert symposium, there will be a five-day exhibition by stakeholders to showcase agricultural value chain products and services.
