The Tanzanian government has banned supermarkets in the country from selling imported vegetables.
Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives minister Stephen Wassira called on supermarket owners to buy and sell vegetables produced locally "to help raise the farmers' incomes." He noted that some investors, especially those running supermarkets, have been importing various items they know are found in plenty locally.
"The government is making concerted efforts to ensure that the agricultural sector becomes more business-oriented and beneficial to farmers," he explained. He said the government would employ and dispatch 2,500 experts to teach farmers how to modernise agriculture to reach the goal.
Wassira warned that agriculture cannot improve when there are no special improvement-inputs, plans and strategies; including using experts, fertilisers, high-yield seeds resistant to vermin and modern but affordable farming implements. He said the government would use villages as agencies to sell fertilisers, instead of continuing with the current procedure, under which big companies sell farm inputs at high prices, although the government chips in by covering the respective transport costs.
Some of these firms have often completely failed to make timely deliveries of farm implements to most needy areas, observed the minister, disclosing that the government has set aside for TSh4 billion ($3.2 million) for the training of rural-based fertiliser sale agents.
IPP Media
