A workshop on investment in bio-fuel plants in Morogoro has heard a strong appeal from local farmers for protection against the threatening invasion from foreign investors.
The workshop was organised ahead of the twelfth AGM of the Network of Farmer Groups in Tanzania. The farmers wanted the government to give more consideration to local investors in the farming sector, particularly on bio-fuel production campaigns. They said that their lands were being taken away and given to foreign investors who were ready to cultivate plants which produce bio-fuel.
"The government has adopted a trend which does not work in favour of the local farmers. I request MVIWATA (the acronym for the network) to help us farmers and the pastoral community to be fully integrated in all major decisions," a spokesman for the farmers said.
Ng\'wanza Kamata, a specialist in bio-resources said, "Tanzania has welcomed the alternative power generating system using plants but this also has environmental impact which must be monitored. Production and use of bio-gas requires farming on massive scale and if not watched carefully we may just find ourselves without food security. Local farmers will not be able to fully participate in this production as they lack resources to conduct such farming. In a sense, the local small scale farmer will be more impoverished than ever and will become a beggar and therefore not free."
The deputy minister for agriculture, Matayo David, replied, "No Tanzanian will be removed from his or her land before an alternative area is found."
IPP Media
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