By Tom Mosoba,   

A visiting professor has faulted Government policies and some reforms aimed at turning around agriculture in Tanzania.

He says both, which aim to make agriculture become the main engine of economic growth and poverty alleviation among the poor rural masses, are either off the track or too insufficient to attain the results expected.

 Prof Hans Binswanger from Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria said yesterday that the government would need to act swiftly on investment policies, and those on governance. It should also eliminate other barriers that were toxic in the promotion of agriculture, he said.

The South African scholar was commenting on agricultural sector development in the country and the ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ policy, which is the route to a green revolution.

Prof Binswanger’s lecture was delivered at a major research conference held in Dar es Salaam that was officially opened by Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda.

It was organised by the Research on Poverty Alleviation (Repoa) and brought together about 300 experts to discuss ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ for economic transformation.

Others present were the Repoa chairperson, Prof Esther Mwaikambo, the organisation’s executive director, Prof Joseph Semboja as well as ambassadors Dr Ad Koekkoek (Netherlands) and Anne Barrington (Ireland). Several senior public and private sector representatives were also in attendance.

The South African professor said while many positive steps and achievements have been recorded over the last years to place the sector in a trajectory, some policy decisions and “inaction” on many other reforms were hurting the country.

In a lecturer that was described as “candid” by conference participants, the don described Tanzania as “a sleeping giant” that had resources to prosper economically to match the Asian economic tigers.

Some of the areas that he said could derail Kilimo Kwanza were strategies and programmes that remained too state centred, lip service on private sector participation and failure to seize regional and international trade opportunities that would greatly accelerate agricultural growth.

“None of Tanzania’s programmes and agendas focus on improving incentives to exports. Kilimo Kwanza proposes to focus on products that Tanzania consumes and food grain exports remain subject to periodic bans,” said Prof Binswanger.

He was particularly critical of the recent enactment of a law that established a state controlled food and grain board which he suggested should not be implemented.

Instead, he said, farmers should be encouraged to do business and generate income through elimination of export restrictions on food grains.

The scholar also wanted the government to quickly complete the reforms on crop boards, sharply reduce non-trade barriers for agricultural commodities and enhance the performance of its ports by investing in appropriate infrastructure as incentives to attract investment.

He said there were still very high levels of distrust of the private sector. People in authority and the public misunderstood its role and potential, he said, noting:

“Such distrust has been thrown overboard in China, Vietnam, Thailand Brazil, Ghana and Uganda.”

He suggested the continuation of the trend to use most public expenditure on agriculture and rural development.

Tanzania, he said, should be worried about its competitors, like Uganda which has moved ahead even in areas of the country’s traditional strength.

Prof Binswanger noted that the sluggish nature of doing things had seen the country take seven years to translate and put into operation the agricultural sector development programme.

For his part, prime minister Pinda hailed the conference, challenging researchers to empower local communities through letting them know about their work.

He said the government valued their contribution and has allotted more funds for research in a bid to find solutions to a myriad of problems.

He said the government still believed that the agricultural revolution held the real answer to the end of grinding poverty.  He said while Kilimo Kwanza had attracted cynics and critics, it was generally a good intention to find a vehicle to hasten rural development and bring in the private sector to drive it forward.

The premier acknowledged the challenges raised and said the government would use the conference recommendations to improve in areas where it was failing.

He therefore challenged all stakeholders to play their part,  saying the country faced a big problem of having investors and financial institutions viewing its agriculture positively.

Ambassador Koekkoek, for his part, called for a close look at actions that could discourage farming communities. He gave the example of banning the food grain trade and choosing for farmers what to plant and not to plant.

He said distributing power tillers in the country may not be an answer to communities lacking trade opportunities, finance and incentives to raise production. He suggested that lack of skilled labour and technology should be given a priority in solving.

Ambassador Barrington said more players were needed to join the ASDP. He challenged the researchers to find out why companies contributing to exports were dying.

The meeting ends tomorrow and Prof Semboja said deliberations would launch phase four of Repoa’s strategic plan for the next few years. This would focus on the need to consolidate key results in areas of their research, he added.

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