Samia launches major 'Kilimo' campaign today

Dar es Salaam. About 3,000 people are expected in Dodoma today to witness the government embark on an ambitious agricultural transformation plan by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The President has singled out the agricultural sector as one of her priority areas, and will today witness the rollout by the minister for agriculture, Mr Husein Bashe, of a new rallying call on boosting agri-business.

President Samia will witness the unveiling of ‘Ajenda 10/30’ tag coined by the ministry to rally efforts of both public and private sectors to turn around the fortunes of thousands of people eking out a living from the agricultural value chain.

With ‘Kilimo ni Biashara’ as its clarion call, ‘Ajenda 10/30 aims to attain an impressive 10 percent annual growth rate for the sector that is the livelihood for some 65 percent of Tanzanians. The target should be met by 2030, according to Mr Bashe. The current growth rate is a measly 2 per cent while the government’s five year development plan projects the growth at 5.7 percent by 2025.

During her maiden speech in Parliament as President last year, Samia promised to invest significantly in the sector and create a more favourable policy environment to attract more players to do commercial farming in Tanzania and also invest in other areas of the entire value chain. That way, the government is optimistic that agri-business would help fight youth unemployment, help alleviate extreme poverty and contribute significantly in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

According to the minister, the sector currently contributes 28 percent of the GDP; but, the minister says they believe a target of a whopping 50 per cent contribution is not a farfetched dream if they would get their steps right.

Today, President Samia will distribute 3,700 motorcycles, soil testing kits, tablets and printers to extension officers as part of 6,000 motorcycles that has been bought for distribution countrywide. Tanzania reportedly needs some 21,000 extension officers, and plans are to raise that number to 15,000 soonest. There are nearly 8,000 of them at the moment.

That is why scaling up extension services is one of the pillars in the “Ajenda 10/30’ campaign, with Bashe acknowledging that farmer education and empowerment have been lacking to make any significant momentum.

Huge budgetary resources would be required to implement many of the plans that the minister has on the table. In the current budget ending on June 30, 2022, Sh294.16 billion was allocated to the ministry, with a huge chunk of Sh228.9 billion going to recurrent expenditure, leaving the balance for development activities.

President Hassan has pledged to raise development spending, with finance minister Mwigulu Nchemba hinting during the presentation of the Sh41.06 trillion 2022/2023 budget framework that agriculture will be one of his top spending areas to reverse what has been a dipping envelope in recent years.

Equally ambitious is Mr Bashe’s target of raising arable land under irrigation from 2 percent to 50 percent, which will see to 10 million hectares put under irrigation from the current 600,000. Others are to jump agricultural export earnings from $2bn to $5bn annually, with horticulture alone raking in $1bn - up from the current $700 million.

Working with stakeholders, key areas to help in driving this green transformational agenda will revolve around seed multiplication, agricultural funding, markets, irrigation farming, extension services, research and development, strategic food and cash crops and technology and innovation.