Njombe, Iringa soya growers to go commercial

The Head of SAGCOT Clusters Department, Ms Maria Ijumba, told a meeting of farmers, public and private decision makers here that delays in the uptake of soya production must become a thing of the past because the government is committed to promoting agro-industrialisation and liberate farmers from poverty.

“Delays in the uptake of soya production have been intermittently surfacing because farmers are sometimes reluctant to grow the crop due to lack of seed and market linkages,” she said.

Sagcot Soya Partnership was established to eliminate the snags, the partnership brings together stakeholders such as Clinton Development Initiative, Silverlands, SeedCo and TOSCI, have worked hard to end the delays in the uptake of soya production.

Ms Ijumba reminded delegates that soya is one of the crops earmarked for development in the 2030 Sagcot Vision with the aim of increasing crop output and turning growers into commercial producers.

She called for regular review meetings in order to eliminate challenges found on the way. Past snags were blamed on limited level of availability of soya seed for the industry and the partnership was established to identify seed suppliers and distribution in the crop growing region. There was also need for smallholders to access affordable financing. Ms Ijumba told the meeting: “We do not want to grapple in the dark.

We want to our grower to know the market, I mean the buyer, the price, at which competitive quality and when,” The Mbarali Cluster Manager, Ms Tullah Mloge called on delegates to speak their mind in order promotes soya production.

The representative of Seed Co, Njombe branch, Ms Flora Mugangala, called on each partner to play fully his part.

“It is as if we are building a house. We shall succeed if each of us will play his part,” she said.

A grower from Namtumbo in Ruvuma Region, Ms Mwamvita Ngonyani, praised the meeting as a forum for getting feedback from experts and decision makers on problems farmers face in the field.

Source: Daily news

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