Tanzania keen to cut animal feed prices
Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development Mr Abdallah Ulega (second right) receives a gift from the Ambassador of the Netherlands Wiebe de Boer (second left) during a one-day workshop in Dar es Salaam. Left is Sagcot CEO Mr Geoffrey Kirenga and the director of aquaculture from the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Dr Nazaeli Madalla (right). PHOTO | THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT
What you need to know:
- Over the past two years, Tanzania has experienced a significant surge in animal feed prices, primarily attributed to heightened demand for soybeans in China and climate-related factors.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is inviting more investors in the production of animal feed to help raise supply of the products and reduce prices.
The country, which has a population of 36.6 million cattle, 26.6 million goats, 9.1 million sheep, and 97.9 million chickens, among others, witnessed a sharp rise in the prices of animal feed during the past two years, largely due to a rise in demand for soybeans in China and other climate-related factors.
Speaking during a one-day workshop organised by the Dutch Embassy in collaboration with the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (Sagcot) in Dar es Salaam, the Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development, Mr Abdallah Ulega said the government was working on how to attract more investments into the area.
“We have seen the importance of attracting investments in the production of animal feed and encourage competition….the cost of production of animal feed is pushing the prices of fish, chickens, and other types of livestock up compared to some regional peers,” he said, requesting participants to come up with the best ways of reducing the prices.
He urged financial institutions to start issuing loans to producers of animal feed and make their business sustainable.
With the law guiding the production of animal feed already in place, Mr Ulega directed the Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency (TVLA) to start making follow-ups on producers of the products to ascertain their quality.
“With high prices of animal feed, a tilapia costs twice as much in Tanzania as it does in Kenya,” he said.
Tanzania, said Mr Ulega currently has at least 223 registered feed mills, but only between 15 and 20 of them are operating at professional and commercial levels.
The Dutch ambassador to Tanzania, Wiebe de Boer, urged the participants to come up with alternative sources of protein to reduce the cost of animal feed production.
He said it was important to come up with solutions and strategies to make the sector competitive in the production of quality feeds for livestock.
Sagcot CEO Mr Geoffrey Kirenga said the animal feed industry in the country held a central position in agriculture and in the economy of the country.
“It is the intersection of both crop production and livestock rearing systems, which collectively provide livelihoods, income, and employment for over 80 percent of the population,” he said.
