The idea of banning food exports as a way to prevent hunger has proved a failure. The only option left is surplus production to meet local and international demands.
Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives, Mr Christopher Chiza
This was said by the Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Eng. Christopher Chiza said this in Dar es Salaam yesterday during a news conference with a group of US journalists, who are visiting Tanzania to document the country’s agriculture and food security endeavour.
“In previous years, we exercised food export ban but the initiative proved failure due to high demand from neighbouring countries such as Kenya, South Sudan and DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), among others,” he said.
Eng. Chiza noted that it was learnt that during the time of export ban, still much food was exported through illegal routes and as a result, the government lost millions of shillings that would have been earned through revenues.
He added that the target is to be able to produce up to 100,000 tonnes of maize, 290,000 tonnes of rice and 150,000 tonnes of sugar in two years from now in a bid to satisfy local and international demands.
The minister said that the government has many programmes at hand to achieve the target which will include, among others, massive investments in the sector in collaboration with private actors. “We want to have massive engagement of investors in the agricultural sectors that will also play a role in strengthening small-scale holders,” he said.
Eng. Chiza assured small scale farmers of full support from the government, adding that no land belonging to them will be given to large scale ones. “In this undertaking we do not have any intention to replace small-scale farmers with large scale ones, our target is to see small scale farmers growing in scale and knowledge as a result of big investments in agriculture,” he said.
The minister also noted that the ministry has a programme dubbed ‘Youth in Agriculture,’ which aims at bringing on board youths and make sure that they play a key role in the sector, as a way of addressing unemployment and increasing productivity.
“Our agriculture is labourer in nature and it therefore not friendly to many youths who have been looking for easier means of earning a living, but the plan is to introduce modern farming to a larger extent as a way of attracting youths into agriculture,” he said.
Just recently, an expert with the US aid agency (USAID), Mr Tom Hobgood, advised Tanzania to stop using export bans to address food security concerns. Mr Hobgood said that Tanzania has a unique opportunity to become a major exporter of food crops, especially maize and rice, in the region where there is a growing import demand.
“This export opportunity has been hampered in the past by periodic export bans to address food security concerns,” Mr Hobgood said. He pointed out that research by SERA Project of the USAID Feed the Future (FtF) initiative has shown that export bans were not effective at ensuring food security, controlling food prices or preventing exports.
According to USAID researchers, Tanzania has already become a large maize exporter and probably exported more than 100,000 tonnes of maize and over 70,000 tonnes of rice in 2011. However, official customs records show that maize exports were less 3,000 tonnes and 36,000 tonnes of rice. “The difference is due to the fact that many exports go unreported through official border posts and many move out informally through ‘panya’ routes,” he added.
By ABDULWAKIL SAIBOKO, Tanzania Daily News
