kilimo kwanza - the guardian - 9th march 2010

Tuesday 9 March, 2010

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The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA

BIOFUELS


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The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Tuesday 9 March, 2010

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Japan vows to boost riceproduction in TanzaniaJapan’s Ambassador toTanzania, His Excel-lency Hiroshi Naka-gawa on the weekenddiscussed his coun-try’s involvement inTanzania’s develop-ment with AngelNavuri. Below areexcerpts of the inter-view:

Agriculture first, butwith industry as wellAgriculture is the largestsector in the economy ac-counting for over 30 per-cent of the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP). It also em-ploys over 60 percent ofthe population labour forcein the rural areas and ac-counts for about 40 percentof foreign exchange earn-ings but...

Most land in Tanzania not yetsurveyed, unregisteredIt is like the chicken andthe egg; which came first?Most people in Tanzaniahave no land titles becausethere is no capacity toissue them. But govern-ment has not developedthe capacity because thepeople have not expressedenough demand for/inter-est in titles...

A clear way forwardon biofuels neededBeing part of the global vil-lage where the search foralternative sources of en-ergy and environmentalprotection are critical is-sues, Tanzania cannot affordto continue with an indeci-sive attitude towards thepromotion of biofuels, anindustry for which it hashuge potential.

By Sayuni Kimaro

Being part of the globalvillage where the searchfor alternative sources ofenergy and environmen-tal protection are criticalissues, Tanzania cannotafford to continue withan indecisive attitude

towards the promotion of biofuels, an in-dustry for which it has huge potential.

Debates on food security versus biofu-els production have run their course, withneither side carrying the day, nor signifi-cantly going ahead to step up production.The country continues to spend some $1.5billion a year – a quarter of its foreign ex-change – to import petroleumwhile it could‘grow’ its clean fuel and export the rest aswell. But at the same time, Tanzanianscontinue to suffer from hunger while mil-lions upon millions of hectares of land lieidle, sitting on tonnes of fresh water thatcould be used to irrigate them and producemore food than we need.

There is no shortage of talk, talk andtalk at seminars where all brilliant reasonare advanced why “we cant” do this andwhywe can’t do that. What is lacking is de-cisiveness. All the clever papers deliveredat workshops will not put more food on thetable if not implemented, nor will they savethe environment that is being destroyed atan alarming rate by dangerous activitieslike charcoal burning, which are inevitablein the absence of a less primitive approachto energy production and consumption.

To produce or not to produce biofuelsThere is no doubt that protection of cit-

izens’ access to agricultural land for foodproduction is paramount. But since thebenefits of promoting the production of bio-fuels can also not be underrated, and thecountry obviously has enough land for both,what is needed is a clear policy on the pro-motion of biofuels in Tanzania. It is esti-mated that the country’s fuel needs can bemet by just opening a total of 500,000hectares to biofuel production.

Already there is a Biofuels Task Force(BTF) established in April 2006 to promotedevelopment of the sector and developmentof the legislation to stimulate the use of bio-fuels. But time is running out for clear-headed implementation, and the govern-ment needs to formulate and implementlong-term policies, regulations and strate-gies of biofuel production instead of quickadaptation of the production. For example,a large-scale investor is allocated a hugechunk of land amid fanfare today, only tocave in due to activists pressure tomorrowand packs up his bags. This is symptomaticof lack of clear regulations in the sector thatis yet to make a definite take off.

It is not in dispute that all effortsshould bemade to avoid large-scale farmerstaking over already occupied farming landto grow biofuel crops. In light of the chang-ing climate and growing threats to the en-vironment, the country’s land and environ-mental policies need appropriate regulato-ry updating. While the Energy Policy callsfor efforts to promote fuel switching frompetroleum to other alternative, environ-mentally friendly fuels, it doesn’t explicitlymention biofuel, probably because at thetime it was written, biofuel production wasbarely being considered.

The Land Policy seems to be better tai-lored to secure the interests of the nation-als, promoting community and manage-ment of local lands and natural resources.

Thus, if respected, these laws offer impor-tant protections for individuals and villagesfacing land acquisition pressures from bio-fuels production.

The National Environment Policy of1997 articulates well the relationship be-tween poverty and environmental degrada-tion, which should cover poverty and bioenergy production and consumption. Itrecognises that investment in developmentis vital for environmental protection be-cause the environment is the first victim ofacute poverty. It also advocates minimiza-tion of wood fuel consumption through thedevelopment of alternatives and promotionof sustainable renewable energy resources,and energy conservation.

And the Agriculture SectorDevelopment Strategy (2001) promotes cre-ating a favorable environment to bring newland under production by either smallfarmers or large private investors. It there-fore supports large and small investmentfor biofuels production in Tanzania, as longas those investments as environmentallysustainable. But the

Government needs all along to ensurethe sustainability of land for the benefit ofthe population and prevent biofuels invest-ments from impacting negatively on the re-maining forests.

Opportunities and RisksTanzania has sufficient arable land for

biofuels production. The tropical climate isconducive. Unlike Brazil which has suc-ceeded by using rain-fed agriculture for itssugar cane for biofuel production, investorin the sector may have to rely heavily onunderground water.

But this is relatively easy to access inthe country where in many places it is ac-cessible at a mere ten or fifteen metres ofdrilling. The country also has a long coast-line through which shipment for export tothe ready European and American marketpossible.

Several companies have already beenregistered for production of biofuels inTanzania. Most of them are foreign compa-nies and they have been allocated land. Heyhave initiated biofuel projects some ofwhich have been hit by controversy overcomplaints by displaced locals.

Usually, this arises when local admin-istrators conclude without checking exactoccupancy on the ground which should in-volve consulting local residents.

Some of these investments, such as theSun Biofuels project at Kisarawe have at-tracted a lot of local and international me-dia coverage, raising concern of civil societygroups about the environmental and socialimpacts of biofuel investments.

Maximum scrutiny must therefore beexercised before implementing biofuel proj-ects in the country, so that communities inprospective areas do not suffer adverse en-vironmental, social, economic and culturalimpacts. But that is what regulations andregulatory bodies are for.

Tanzania has an undeniably huge po-tential for producing biofuels and biofuelsin turn have a potential of reducing nation-al expenditure on petroleum fuels. Thecountry also has a potential to produce andexport biofuels to the EU and Americawhere the market already exists and opento African producers.

Not only would the country enjoy mas-sive savings from petroleum imports but itwould also increase its GDP, employmentand enjoy more export revenue, all of whichwould stimulate economic development.

A domestic market worth $1.5 billion isavailable, and without our own biofuel pro-duction, that money has to be spent any-way, with the attendant pollution, withoutcreating employment for us. Production ofbiofuels here would add to energy supplyfor rural areas so that places that wouldotherwise have to wait for several decadesbefore they get clean energy for lightingand cooking can also be brought on board.

A clear wayforward on

biofuels needed

At present, oil palm and jatropha are the main crops used for producing biofuels in Tanzania. Oil palm has been cultivatedfor decades in parts of Tanzania as a food crop, whereas jatropha has been used in certain areas for hedges or grave mark-ers though not for commercial or other uses. Sugarcane is widely cultivated in Tanzania to produce sugar, and many pro-posals have been developed to diversify and expand the use of sugarcane for biofuel production. There is the potential toproduce biofuels from other existing oil food crops such as coconut, sunflower, and even avocado, but no biofuel projects us-ing these crops are currently operational in Tanzania.

by 2009

It emerges that 89 percent ofTanzania has not yet been sur-veyed. For this massive countrymeasuring nearly a millionsquare kilometres, this repre-sents about 900,000 squareskilometres of uncharted territo-ry. This ‘unidentified’ Tanzanian

land is larger than the combined size of thecountry regional partners of Kenya,Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi put togeth-er.

According to Mr Ladislaus Salema, theMukurabita Program Coordinator in theOffice of the President, even if the Lands of-ficials had all the equipment they need, itwould take the next ten years to have 30percent of the country properly mappedand titles issued to the occupants of theland.

While Tanzanians can sit back in thecomfort of the constitutional provision thatvests all the land under the trust of thePresident on their behalf, and be assured ofalways being able to access it, they aremissing out by not getting their own leasetitles. There are several factors for this butthe biggest problem, according to

Ladislaus Salema, are the people them-selves. They are simply not seeking the ti-tles. Salema says even though there aretechnical limitations for titling the land,

there just isn’t any significant demand forthe titles to cause the required investmentin the technical capacity to issue them.

The consequence of Tanzanians’ nothaving titles for their land is economicstagnation. A person who does not have atitle deed does not have registerable inter-est in that land, however big it is, and re-gardless of the millions they may have in-vested in building and farming on it. Theycannot be entertained by any bank if theywant financial services.

President JakayaKikwete has been en-couraging people to secure their rights intheir land by seeking titles. He has officiat-ed at functions handing out hundreds of ti-tles to those who have seen the light.

Leaders at all levels should join thepresident in encouraging ordinary people tosecure their plots and shambas by gettingcertificates of registration. This will enablethem to start handling agriculture as abusiness. The first step is to get a title foryour land.

Wallace MauggoEditor

Go for that titledeed now!

Art & Design: KN Mayunga

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA

COVER STORY


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4 COVER STORY

By Erick Kabendera

Mwita Kicheere, aresident ofKigamboni wasexcited when hereceived newsfrom his local gov-ernment authori-ties that his locali-

ty would benefit from theMinistry of Landsproject aimed at issuing residential permitsfor residences in unplanned areas in 2005.

He was further informed that the pur-pose of the exercise was meant not only torecognize ownership of such residences butalso to enable owners to use the residentialpermits as collateral for credit application.

At the back of his mind, Kicheere says,he started thinking of borrowing moneyfrom the bank to finish building a smallbusiness centre he had started constructingsome months before but couldn’t finish itdue to lack of money.

“It was an exciting project and I imme-diately started processing all requirementsto get the permit and apply for the loan im-mediately,” says Kicheere.

Kicheere who is a lawyer by professionsays the project was named Property andBusiness Formalisation Programme(PBFP) popularly known as Mkurabita inKiswahili and it was conducted in collabo-ration with the ministry of lands.

Before the project took off, Kicheerehad heard about the project duringPresident Benjamin Mkapa’s tenure in of-fice when the president commissioned thePeruvian economist, Professor Hernandode Soto to review legislation governingproperty ownership and compiling data onthe patterns of movable and fixed assetsownership.

De Soto’s team proposed that lack of ti-tle deeds and other documentation meantthat many Tanzanians were unable to usetheir property as collateral to obtain loansfor business or agricultural activities. Theproposals led to the formulization theProperty and Business FormalisationProgramme. The move was meant to “un-lock” the development of the informal sec-tor.

One of the aims of the project was tobring about change to property and busi-ness entities in the informal sector, intolegally held and formally operated entitiesin the formal sector of the economy. Beforehe was given his permit, Kicheere and oth-er residents in his area had to fill out appli-cation forms at the local government office,which were forwarded to the council beforehe was awarded his permit.

“We were told that aerial photographsof our areas had been taken and were usedto identify our plots to prepare maps of ourareas,” he recalls.

Kicheere says he paid Shs5, 560 as a feefor acquiring the permit for the plot whichmeasures 620 square metres. “I successful-ly acquired a residential permit not only formyKigamboni plot but also for another plotthat I own in Ubungo area.”

With his two residential permits,Kicheere thought he was finally on the wayto formal business and eventually, the bigtime. He started going to the banks but hewas disappointed to learn that most banksdid not accept the permits because theywere valid for only two years, on renewablebasis. Only one bank recognised the per-mits but didn’t like his project proposal.

“I was told that banks didn’t like thepermits due to the fact that they were only

valid for two years, which was not longenough for repayment of the entire loan,”he says. But Ladislaus Salema, ProgramCoordinator at Mkurabita distances his of-fice from the programme, saying that it isunder the Ministry of Lands and HumanSettlements although the idea of setting upMkurabita was almost similar.

Salema says Mkurabita helps peopleregister their property so that it can belegally recognized and the title deeds usedto secure loans from commercial banks.But he says the plan of the exercise to issueresidential permits was aimed at preparingsuch areas for proper planning becausethey were not planned and prepare the per-mit holders to get title deeds in future.

“But again you could apply for titledeeds and if the government says yourproperty should be demolished in public in-etrest, you can be given another plot else-

where,” he says.From his experience, Salema wonders

if banks could provide development loanson the strength of a two-year document.Even if they did, the holder can only borrowa small amount of money that they can re-pay in such a small time. “The cost of ad-ministering a two years loan is quite highand that remains a big challenge.”

He says that banks usually, don’tshould provide loans to the people just be-cause they have collateral but rather if theproposal presented to the bank is strongenough to be able to generate enough mon-ey to repay the loan. “Banks don’t wanttheir clients to fail repaying the loan andthat is why collateral should be the lastthing banks look at as security after beingsatisfied with the presented project plan,”he says.

But According to Salema, Mkurabita

programme has realized that people whoown or run small businesses don’t knowhow to write good proposals and the pro-gramme was in the process of setting up anexercise of helping small business peoplewrite good business proposals which bankscannot reject.

Generally, it isMkurabita programme’swish to link formalized assets to financialfacilities title deeds but has not yet reachedto that stage. That is the reason why, hesays they consider residential permits asthe start of the property formalizationprocess because it entails identifying theowner but not adequately offering requiredproperty rights.

Salema happily talks about one of therecent successful Mkurabita project as be-ing an exercise to issue title deeds to 800residents of Hannanasif ward in Kinondonidistrict.

“This place was unplanned and therewere plans to issue residential permits tothe residents but we said why not givethem title deeds. So to avoid some housesbeing demolished they organized them-selves and agreed which houses to be de-molished without compensation. We gavethem title deeds and this is the model wewant to use in Njombe district,” saysSalema.

But Kicheere’s concern remains thatthe residential permits are “useless sinceordinary people cannot use them to accessloans” from commercial banks. He is alsoconcerned with lack of coordination be-tween the banks and the authorities issu-ing the residential permits to make the per-mits useful to the owners. He has now re-newed his permits but he says he is too dis-couraged to renew them when they expireagain in two years.

Question: The government has re-cently introduced Kilimo Kwanza – anew public/ private sector partnershipaimed at spearheading efforts tobringing about Agriculture revolutionin the country. How do you think yourprogramme can support this pro-gramme?

A: Kilimo Kwanza is like a political slo-gan that is built in the system of imple-menting the agriculture sector develop-ment slogan.

There have been other initiatives in thepast aimed at transforming small scalefarming from the use of traditional technol-ogy in bringing about agricultural develop-ment. However, it is wrong to say that theprogramme aims at transforming smallfarmers from the use of hand hoe given thefact that no one can avoid using a hand hoeno matter how advanced the technology is.Agriculture depends on mixed technologiesand therefore I think the strategy behindthe initiative I think is to empower smallfarmers to be able to use technology in pro-duction, harvesting, preservation as well astransportation of their produce.

Also important is the availability ofgood seeds. As Property and BusinessFormalization Programme (PBFP), wewant to formalize farming and make surethat small farmers are well recognized and

accepted. This means that a plot has to besurveyed and registered as part of theprocess to acquire land permit.

Every farmer should know that theycan not do anything substantial if a piece ofland on which a farmer wants to use foragricultural purposes is not formalized.

Q: From what you have said, whatdo you think are the chances of theprogramme being successful?

A: Kilimo Kwanza will only succeed ifsmall farmers are empowered with modernequipments, which is only possible if theirland is legally recognized and that is wherewe think Mkurabita can come in to help.

Q. It is widely believed that it is dif-ficult to know how much of the coun-try is unsurveyed because of lack ofreliable statistics. How do you canyour programme help reverse thetrend?

A. The problem is not the statistics butthe people themselves. We conducted a re-search on that some years ago and foundthat 89 percent of land in Tanzania is notsurveyed. And those who own majority ofthe land are not integrated in the formaleconomy and therefore cannot participatein the ongoing discussion on land owner-ship.

If we formalize at least 50 percent ofthe land then we can be able to talk aboutthe issue of proper utilization of land. It isvery important to compare ourselves withdeveloped countries especially those whichhave introduced proper ownership systemsand eventually become successful.

For instance investors in the countryare borrowing money from banks.

But all they have is only ideas, and theyoperate under limited liability registeredcompanies.

Thus it becomes easier for them to showsome papers and a few details before theyare granted loans.

But majority of Tanzanians are in totaldarkness and do not think that way andthat is the real meaning of Mkurabita; try-ing to help people see such opportunities,especially those who practice agriculturebut cannot seeks loans from banks becausetheir property is not formalized.

Q: So how can Kilimo Kwanzatackle such shortcomings to achieveits goals?

A: Kilimo Kwanza is big programmewhose implementation can take long.

It is not a timeframe plan and thereforewe need to put more efforts in that thishelps to bring about modern agriculture.

Small farmers must formalize their

lands so that they become recognized andshould embark on using modern farmingtools. Kilimo Kwanza cannot just stand onits own as it has to be linked with busi-nesses. If we do not have good businesseswithin the country

Kilimo Kwanza is doomed to fail be-cause production will increase but farmerswill have no market to sell their produce.

Q. What do you think should bedone to improve the standards of agri-culture as the country embarks on im-plementing Kilimo Kwanza?

A. I think appropriate technologies areneeded to process crop and livestock prod-ucts so as to increase value in the market.

For instance a coffee farmer ought toknow how to make profit from his produceand the market options available. Theyhave to know that processing your producebefore exportation increases value than ex-porting it unprocessed.

The same applies to cotton, where afarmer should to an extent process cottoninstead of selling unprocessed cotton whichstill has fibre and oil mixed together.Instead, they can process it and extract oiland fibre and sell the two separately.

To us it is a matter of providing educa-tion to such farmers that they may learnhow to increase the value of their produce

in the market.When Mkurabita formalizes your busi-

ness it means that we have provided youwith legal power. But the value chain can-not be complete if only an individual farmeris empowered rather than having smallfarmers organizing themselves in form offormal groupings and process differentproducts and sell them.

With them being registered and recog-nized, small farmers will increase their eco-nomic means and may decide to buy theirown produce and process them so that theycould be easily accepted in the market.

Q. But in order to formalize the en-tire 89 percent of unsurveyed land youtalked about, you need technical re-sources and technology. Do you havethat capacity?

A. We first need to ask ourselves if wehave people who are ready to have theirlands formalized. I think people should bethe ones demanding for it and Mkurabitawill provide the experts to help them.

Even if they do not have enough mon-ey, we first want to see their commitmentbecause the government is committed todoing that.

In terms of expertise, of course expertsare available but very few. It is however nota big task to recruit more. For example a

Most land in Tanzania not yet surveyed, unregisteredOne of the aims of Mukurabita was to bring about change to propertyand business entities in the informal sector, into legally held and for-mally operated entities in the formal sector of the economy. Before hewas given his permit, Kicheere and other residents in his area had tofill out application forms at the local government office, which wereforwarded to the council before he was awarded his permit

form four leaver can become a licensed surveyor af-ter two weeks of training.

It is however true that we need money for al-most everything but the most important thing iscommitment.

If at all people are eager to take part in what weare doing they will definitely contribute money tobenefit from our services. For instance, People inNjombe have shown their willingness and that theyare ready to benefit from our services without wait-ing for the government to do it for them. To me,having such committed people is a huge achieve-ment.

Q. How big is the shortage of licensed survey-ors?

A. I do not have exact statistics but of course wedon’t have enough experts in the area. The impor-tant thing is how to make use of these few availableones to get maximum input.

We should not tire our minds expecting thenumber of licensed surveyors to increase but workwith what we have. It’s not just about the shortageof licensed surveyors but also the land planners,which is a huge challenge to us. All we need is or-ganizing ourselves properly.

Q. One of the hotly debated issued beforethe signing of the East Africa commonmarketprotocol was that land ownership should besubjected to the governing laws of each coun-try for fear that foreigners would take land.

Did you share similar views?A. Business in East Africa is fast growing and

every country has its own governing laws. In thatcase each country’s policies must be put in order.That is why it is important for Tanzania to imple-ment Mkurabita programme.

But before formalization, laws must be harmo-nized. Therefore we need to create systems that willfacilitate us doing so.

We asked the land and housing minister if weneed to improve the 1995 land law so as to meet thecommon market demand, knowing what the EastAfrican market needs were.

But the problem is that Tanzanians do not ownland and when investor come and ask Tanzanianswho own land so that he can do business with them,they say that the government is the one that ownsit.

Q. If all the challenges you have men-tioned get solved, how long would it take tosurvey the entire country?

A. I think we would take about ten years to sur-vey 30 percent of land.

But I think we need to do it soonest because ac-cording to the report title: “Making the lawwork foreveryone”, which was produced by the Commissionon Legal Empowerment of the Poor aiming at fo-cusing on the link between exclusion, poverty andthe law, property formalization is key to reducingpoverty. And that is what Mkurabita wants toachieve.

It is like thechicken and theegg; which camefirst? Most peo-ple in Tanzaniahave no land ti-tles becausethere is no ca-pacity to issuethem. But gov-ernment has notdeveloped thecapacity becausethe people havenot expressedenough demandfor/interest in ti-tles to cause suf-ficient invest-ment in land sur-veying and regis-tration. ERICKKABENDERAasked the nation-al coordinator ofMukurabita, MrLadislaus Salemathis affectsKilimo Kwanza.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY;Many people use land forgenerations, without everbothering to register theirinterest in it. Nearly 90 per-cent of the land is not yetsurveyed, and it wiould takeover 30 years for this to bedone, (like the inset.) mak-ing the registration of cer-tificates of proprietorshipimpossible. As a result, the‘owners’ can not secure se-rious financing from finan-cial institutions.

REGISTRATION NOT ENOUGH:Frustrated Dar resident, MrKicheere, narrates to TheGuardian the ordeal he wentthrough trying to get someadditional capital to develophis registered property . Thebanks were not interested inhis two-years certificates,and said they could only dealwith him if he produced areal title deed. He lost inter-est in renewing the 2-yearregistration when it expired

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZATuesday 9 March, 2010

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6 OPINIONS/STRATEGY

By Theo Mushi

Agriculture is the largestsector in the economyaccounting for over 30percent of the GrossDomestic Product(GDP). It also employsover 60 percent of thepopulation labour force

in the rural areas and accounts for about 40percent of foreign exchange earnings.

The agricultural sector has been grow-ing at an average of 4 percent for the pastfour years and the population has beengrowing at a rate of 2.9 percent. Thismeansthe agricultural sector must grow at a high-er rate in order to ensure there is food se-curity.

According to the new World Bank defi-nition the agricultural sector in its broadestsense must include crop farming, livestock,fisheries and forestry and strategies andpolicies must be laid to develop these sub-sectors. The establishment of the Ministryof Livestock and Fisheries is a step in theright direction because there is a need to in-crease the contribution of livestock andfisheries sub-sectors to the national econo-my.

GENESIS OF KILIMO KWANZA

Since independence agriculture hasbeen said to be the backbone of the econo-my or in Kiswahili Kilimo ni Uti waMgongo.

Until independence was attained inTanzania and for some years later cropfarming was dominated by European-owned largescale commercial farming forcoffee, tea, dairy farms, wheat and sisalplantations. It must be recalled thatTanzania was in early 1960s a net exporterof wheat to Kenya and this came fromWestKilimanjaro but the trend has now been re-versed.

In 1967 Ujamaa villages were intro-duced and cash crop and food productionwas left to the collective farms and therewere no extension officers to ensure thatthere were good farming practices.

Production of both food and cash cropsstarted to plummet despite the investmentmade by the government by ensuring near-ly all villages had tractors which in the fi-nal analysis could not be repaired andmaintained and were discarded with thecontinued use of the hand hoes.

The last blow was nationalisation of allcommercial farms in 1972 and they wereput under state management of NationalFood and Agricultural Corporation (NAF-CO) which did not have managers conver-sant with agro-practices and there wasplundering of funds and vandalisation offarm equipments and machinery includinglorries to transport crops.

Other slogans included “Siasa niKilimo”,“Kilimo cha Kufa na Kupona” andnow Kilimo Kwanza.

Enter ASDPThree years ago the Agriculture Sector

Development Programme was launchedwith a planned budget of $2 billion over aperiod of 7 years to be implemented at dis-trict level by District Councils. There aretwo plans; one is the District AgriculturalSector Development

Programme (DASDP) and DistrictAgricultural Sector InvestmentProgramme (DASIP). Under both pro-gramme farmers are expected to partici-pate in the planning of new projects includ-ing irrigation schemes and it appears theDistrict Councils are not well equipped toconceptualize the plans and farmers are notsensitized on ASDP.

The other shortcoming of ASDP is lackof capacity at district level to implement theplan even if the budget of the agriculturalsector budget allocation reaches the target-ed 10 percent of the National

Budget. Over and above other aspects

the development partners (donors) both bi-lateral and multilateral did not disbursethe promised funds to finance theAgricultural Sector DevelopmentProgramme (strategy).

It was against this background that theprivate sector and the government decidedto forma a task force of agricultural leadministries to prepare the Kilimo Kwanzaprogramme. The joint coordinators ofpreparation of Kilimo Kwanza wereTanzania Private Sector Foundation(TPSF) and Tanzania National BusinessCouncil who prioritized the ten pillars ofKilimo Kwanza.

The most important factor is availabili-ty of land which is accessible to be used bylocal and foreign investors in large scalecommercial farming which will increaseoutput of cash and food crops and createemployment in the rural areas.

The other aspect is access to credit es-pecially for small scale farmers in order to

expand areas under cultivation and to af-ford to buy subsidized seeds and farm in-puts like fertilizers, pesticides and veteri-nary medicine. SACCOs and commercialbank have their financial limitation to ex-tend the loans to all the farmers in thecountry. The government has established awindow in the Tanzania Investment Bankto lend to farms but farmers need to be ed-ucated by the existence of this facility.Plans are underway to establishAgricultural Development

Bank and this should have branches inall the regions and eventually all districts.

The cornerstone of Kilimo Kwanza isIrrigation and Agricultural mechanization.As far as irrigation is concerned there issubstantial progress that has beenmade byestablishing the National Irrigation

Fund and District Irrigation Funds forsmall irrigation schemes in the districts butthere is a long way to go in terms of budgetallocation to large and small irrigation

schemes. The Tanzania Government hasreceived a loan of $40 million from India toimport tractors which are to be importedand assembled by SUMA-JKT andTanzania Automotive Technology Centre(TATC) at Kibaha (NYUMBU).

There are about three questions thatneed to be answered. First it is planned togive the tractors to the districts so that theycan be hired by farmers and past experi-ence shows that there were governmentfund district “Tractor Hiring Centers whichwere plundered andmismanaged and even-tually went bankrupt. How many smallscale farmers have been empowered to hirelet alone to afford to buy the tractors?

Have technicians been prepared toservice and repair the imported tractors? Inthe 1960s a French Agronomist Prof.Professor Rene Dumont wrote a book called“False start in Africa” in which he recom-mended the use of appropriate technologyor intermediate use of the ox-driven plough

because it can easily be repaired and mostfarmers or groups of farmers can afford it.

AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIALI-SATION

In a symposium held in November lastyear to mark Africa Industrialization Daythe Minister for Industries, Trade andMarketing Dr. Mary Nagu remarked thatthere will not be industrialization withoutagricultural development or KilimoKwanza. For the two sectors to developthere is need for complementary growthand use of backward and forward linkages.

On the demand side agriculture needstractors, ploughs, fertilizers, seeds and pes-ticides. Except for the seeds most of theagricultural inputs are imported. On thedemand supply side farmers ‘products needto be processed in order to add value and re-duce post-harvest losses. There is thereforea need to attract investors to produce andassemble tractors and produce fertilizers,pesticides and improved seed for farmers.On the other hand agriculture, fisheriesand livestock products need to be processedon order to add value and increase shelf life.There is a need to end importation ofcanned beef, fish, leather and other animalproducts. Investors need to be attracted toinvest in beef canning, dairy plants, leathertanning, fish processing and agro-process-ing especially food processing. Agro-pro-cessing should be attracted in the rural ar-eas depending on rural electrification in or-der to reduce rural unemployment and un-der-employment.

BACK TO THE BASICSFor Kilimo Kwanza to succeed there is

a need for well-planned irrigation schemesand agricultural mechanization. The capac-ity of district councils needs to be built toplan and implement agricultural projects.

There is also need to increase the mem-ber of extension officers to start demonstra-tion farms to train farmers and educatethem on availability of subsidized fertilizersand how to apply them. There is a need tofor investment in rural roads to ease trans-port of crops and food to urban markets.Farmers need reliable markets and marketstructures. Farmers need high prices andfair returns for their investment in agri-business.

There is a need to regulate the cartelsof crops buyers who exploit farmers and co-operatives should be empowered to buyfarmers crops and sell inputs to them. Theestablished Agency should be well fundedto buy farmers crops at competitive pricesas those offered by smugglers who sell foodcrops to the neighbouring countries andthere will be no need to ban food exports.

Above all loans extended to farmersshould be well managed and a follow upshould be made so that the money is recov-ered for lending to others. Otherwise theAgricultural Development Bank may col-lapse like the defunct Agricultural CreditAgency of 1970s which failed to recoverloans extended to farmers.

The government has for long focused someof its attention on irrigation as a way tomove the country from depending on rainfed farming. But after 50 years of tryingTanzania has so far failed to utilize avail-able water resources to any significant de-gree.

The most important component of agri-culture is water. All other inputs can be im-provised, improved, substituted, but notwater.

That is why other countries that have

succeeded in agriculture more thanTanzania did so by tapping sufficient waterfor farming. Surprisingly though,

Tanzania has much more and easier totap fresh water than such countries.

Egypt has for example been developingits irrigation practices and technologiesover the years and is now an agriculturalpower, despite being a real hot desert.Although the world mostly knows about

Egyptian agriculture mostly dependingon the waters of the River Nile, a lot of the

farming in that country depends on bore-hole water from under the ground. TheAswan High Dam may be an imposingstructure but the les visible boreholes do anequally important job in feeding Egypt andmaking it rich.

What may come as a surprise to mostTanzanians is to learn that it is ten timesmore difficult to tap underground water inEgypt that it is in Tanzania.

There, you need to drill from 100 to 150metres of more to reach water. But here un-

derground water can be reached by‘scratching’ a mere ten to 15 metres.

In such a situation like our country thatis trying to improve agriculture it has to fixseveral major problems in the sector: Theseinclude water, productivity regarding tech-nology and soil fertility, finance and policybottlenecks.

But water is paramount. The countryhas considerable potential for increasingthe agricultural output and quality by ad-dressing these and course, outdated cultur-

al practices.To achieve more benefits of the free

market, there must be changes in the wayirrigation water is tapped, delivered and al-located to farmers for meeting the real cropwater needs.

Water deliveries in the present irriga-tion systems are terribly inefficient, waste-ful and in some respects even unsafe.Continuous improvements of the irrigationsystem are not just essential, they muststart taking place now.

Agriculture first, butwith industry as well

From The Ground

Email: [email protected]

Angel Navuri

Irrigation is the way forward – no other way

The Guardianand Nipashe KilimoKwanza arecommitted tosupporting all thepromoters andstakeholders ofTanzania’s GreenRevolution.

To get yourorganisation orbusiness activitiescovered in thissupplement,

Contact:0787 5713080655 5713080754 571308


8 WHAT OTHERS SAY

Japan’sAmbassador toTanzania, HisExcellencyHiroshiNakagawa onthe weekenddiscussed hiscountry’s in-volvement inTanzania’s de-velopment withAngel Navuri.Below are ex-cerpts of the in-terview:

Question: What is the nature ofJapan’s engagement with Tanzania?

Answer: Japan has developed a goodrelationship with Tanzania and since 1964Tanzania has enjoyedmore Japanese assis-tance than other African countries. We pro-mote efficiency in Agriculture so as to en-hance food security as it is important tomany countries, especially to developingcountries. Japan has a population of 136million people and about 10 percent ofJapan land is used for farming while 80percent is mountains. We don’t produceenough food to feed the population but weimport food because only 4.6 millionhectares is used for Agriculture.

In Tanzania, The economic share of theAgriculture sector is 25 percent of the GDP,while 75 percent of the total population areliving in the rural areas and most of themare engaged in farming. Tanzanians live onone dollar per day and most of them are liv-ing in the rural areas. So unless the coun-tryside develops, we cannot expect that in-come will grow. Even if we develop mining,the number of beneficiaries to get jobs hereis limited. To make people gain higher liv-ing standards, the only way is to developagriculture.

This is normal and was done in manynewly developed countries. Agricultureplays a big role under these circumstances,These two go together as farmers in the ru-ral could harvest maize and failed to trans-port it because of poor infrastructure.Although in Japan we don’t have enoughland but we don’t neglect agriculture. Andirrigation is applied a lot by making surethat rain water is utilized before it flows tothe sea.

Q: What is the size of JapanGovernment assistance to Agriculturesector in Tanzania?

A: We have been supporting agricul-

ture in Tanzania since 1970s, when westarted a project in the southern part ofMoshi, concentrating on promoting growingrice since it is our staple food. We developed2300 hectares and the construction ofcanals costing 33 million US Dollars. Butwe also have agriculture experts fromJapan at the Kilimanjaro Training centreand they train farmers then the farmers be-comes trainers for others too.

We had set it for five years but wefound that it is not enough. So we will ex-tend for another five years for the trainings.Japan government supports the idea ofKilimo Kwanza but it should be developedproperly.

What is the trend of your country’s as-sistance to Tanzania’s Agriculture sector; isit growing, decreasing or stagnant?

The Japanese government will contin-ue supporting the agriculture sector as wehave been, providing agricultural inputsand during the Tokyo InternationalConference of Africa Development Japanexpressed its commitment to double theOfficial Development Assistance to Africaby 2012. Tanzania will benefit from this in-crease and it should be used wisely in of itsprojects.

Currently Tanzania has been gettingassistance of USD80-90 million from Japanso by 2012 it will be an estimated USD 200million, of which USD20 million goes to theGovernment General Budget Support whilethe remaining will go to other importantprojects.

Q: In what specific area isJapanese assistance channeled?

A: Our assistance in agriculture it ischanneled on the side of rice cultivation be-cause Japan has a comparative advantageof knowledge in rice sector. From now onweare going to concentrate on Agriculture,particularly on the side of rice because thedemand of rice in Tanzania has grown andthe country imports rice from other coun-tries now. It has to be self sufficient bymaking sure the production is doubled.

Q: Is this assistance really effec-tive?

A: If Agriculture develops then it willboost the economy of the country.

Q: What advice do you have forTanzania to develop Agriculture?

A: In order for the economy to developproperly, it is imperative to have agricul-ture developed. In this regard, irrigationshould take the top priority. This is the fun-damental way to have a high level of stableproduction; because even if we have fertil-izer and seeds but no water you cant doanything.

In any case to develop the agriculturesector costs so much; the country is lackingdomestic investment and even if develop-ment partners are supportive, Tanzaniashould not depend too much on external as-sistance, but rather on mining and tourismsectors as the driving force to increase do-

mestic revenue. The mining sector is an in-herently exploitative activity because onceyou extract the resource, you cannot re-trieve them twice. We need to use themwisely. Most of the profit is gained by for-eign companies as government fails to spotmuch of the revenue, it should try to havemore revenue and invest in the agriculturesector

Agriculture is of vital importance forthe economic growth of Tanzania given thatabout 30% of GDP, 30% of total exports andabout 80% of labour forces are all from thissector. However, significant improvementin agricultural productivity has not beenobserved due to the rain-fed and extensiveagriculture.

In response to this situation, Japan hasbeen providing technical support for irri-gated rice production through technical co-operation in supporting service deliverysystems of irrigated agriculture and, in ad-dition, capacity development for irrigation-related technology at the level of local gov-ernment.

Japan has also been actively participat-ing in policy discussion along with provid-ing financial contribution to the ASDPBasket Fund. Japan has been supportingthe improvement of infrastructure inTanzania. 20% of paved trunk roads, 40% ofelectrification network and 30% of tele-phone circuits in Dar es Salaam have beenconstructed by Japan’s assistance and wehave also given support for power trans-mission and distribution in the city.

Ongoing projects and programmes as-sistance

(US million, $1=120 Japanese Yen)Loan Assistance, Arusha-Namanga-

Athi River Road Development Project(57.14) Poverty Reduction Support Credit 5(16.7)

Debt Relief. Commercial DebtCancellation (533.0)Grant Assistance

Basket Funding, Grant Aid for PovertyReduction Strategy (5.25), ASDP BasketFund (2.71) ,PFMRP Basket Fund(0.42),PRS Monitoring Pooled Fund(1.29),LGCDG Basket Fund (0.83)

Agriculture Sector, Food Aid(5.92),Transport Sector, Project forWidening of Kilwa Road (22.1,Project forUpgrading Masasi-Mangaka Road(5.8),Water Sector, Project for ZanzibarUrban Water Supply Development(17.3),Project for Water SupplyDevelopment around the MetropolitanArea (6.8)

Energy Sector, Project forReinforcement of Transmission andDistribution Facilities in OysterbaySubstation (the detailed design) (0.2)

Health Sector,HIV/AIDS ControlProject (2.93)

Technical AssistanceAgriculture Sector, Supporting Service

Delivery Systems of Irrigated Agriculture

(6.6),Formulation and Training of theDADP Guidelines on Irrigation SchemeDevelopment (3.4)

Transport Sector, Capacity Building forRoadWorks ProjectManagement, CapacityStrengthening on Labour BasedTechnology Training (2.6)

Water Sector, Project for Training onRural Water Supply Implementation (2.8),Project for Strengthening forWater SupplyManagement in Urban Area in Zanzibar(2.8)

Energy Sector, Support Project for theStable Power Supply System (4.9)

Health Sector, Technical Cooperationin Capacity Development of RegionalReferral Health Management (3.5) ,Projectfor Institutional Capacity Strengtheningfor HIV Prevention (3.7)

Local Government, CapacityDevelopment in Participatory Planning atLocal Government (3.5), Project forCapacity Development for LocalGovernment Training, Public FinancialManagement Reform, CapacityDevelopment Programme for InternalAudit (2.0).

Japan started to provide financial as-sistance to the Poverty Reduction BudgetSupport (PRBS) applying debt relief inFY2001. Since FY2003 Japan has annuallyprovided 545 million Japanese Yen ($4.54million) to PRBS and 55 million JapaneseYen ($0.46 million) to the PovertyMonitoring System Pooled Fund under thescheme of non-project grant aid, which wasthe first operation of Japan’s ODA to putour grant to the Budget Support. Japan hasprovided 2 billion Japanese Yen ($16.7 mil-lion) for co-financing for the PovertyReduction Support Credit (PRSC) of theWorld Bank since FY2006. In FY2008,Japan extended JPY 630 million ($ 6.16million) to four basket funds in total underthe scheme of Grant Aid for PovertyReduction Strategy (PRS), namelyAgriculture Sector DevelopmentProgramme (ASDP): JPY 325 million,Public Financial Management ReformProgramme (PFMRP): JPY 50 million, PRSMonitoring: JPY 155 million and LocalGovernment Capital Development Grant(LGCDG): JPY 100 million.

Japan’s Ambassador to Tanzania,His Excellency Hiroshi Nakagawa

Japan vows to boost riceproduction in Tanzania

kilimo kwanza - the guardian - 9th march 2010

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