Political leaders asked to push for more investment in small scale farming

Political leaders asked to push for more investment in small scale farming

Thu Mar 05, 2015

Political leaders in  East African countries have been urged to make sure that more investment is directed towards supporting small scale farmers so as to fast track agricultural development in the region.

 
This was said on Tuesday in Dar es Salaam by a member of a network of Small Scale farmers Tanzania (Mviwata) from Iramba District, Bakari Mwakandala when explaining development and challenges facing the agricultural sector in the region.
 
He said East African Governments need to wake-up and support the farmers for the benefit of the region.
 
“There is no country in the region which has fulfilled Maputo declaration of 2003 which requires them to allocate 10 percent of their national budgets to the agricultural sector. This is not good for economic development of the countries, he noted.
 
During the Maputo Declaration of 2003, African leaders committed themselves to allocate 10 percent of their national budgets to the agricultural sector to ensure food security.
 
He said there is a need to improve agricultural performance and make sure its contribution to the growth domestic product increases.
He urged small scale farmers in East African countries to join hands in looking for their rights and marketing opportunities.
 
Mwakandala also urged regional governments to support small scale farmers, warning it could lead to food insecurity.
 
He said for region to be food secure, governments should come clean on their promises of investing more in small scale farming. 
 
Speaking during the workshop organised by a network of small scale farmers’ group in Tanzania held last year in Morogoro, the chairman of East Africa Farmers’ Federation, Philip Kiriro, was quoted by this paper as saying African countries have great opportunity to increase food production which would feed an increasing  population in the continent in the coming few years.
 
He said it is anticipated that population in African countries would increase in the coming twenty years  hence there was a need to increase food production.
 
Tanzania and other African countries have a big opportunity to produce more crops which would feed an increased population.
 
He said imported food is having a negative effect on the region’s economy thus affecting the wellbeing of the general population.
Agricultural experts say there are many economic challenges facing the farmers in the area.
 
Some of them lack access to reliable agricultural produce markets and financial services, low prices of agricultural produce and food insecurity.
They say already they have drawn key strategic areas of intervention which include formation and development of farmers groups and networks.
 
Others are improving lobbying and advocacy capacity of the farmers, economic empowerment of farmers through improving agricultural marketing systems and rural micro financing, promoting awareness of cross cutting issues among the farming community, particularly, HIV/AIDS and gender and climate change.
SOURCE: IPPMEDIA

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