DailyNewsOnline, United Republic of Tanzania
ICHIKAELI MARO in Dodoma
Members of Parliament from cotton growing regions yesterday continued to voice their concern over alleged neglect of growers of the crop as they contributed to debate the annual estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture, Co-operatives and Marketing.
Estimates for the ministry were tabled in the National Assembly by Minister Stephen Wassira on Tuesday. The ministry is requesting to spend 113,737,050,400/- for recurrent and development initiatives for the 2014/09 financial year.
In their contributions, legislators from Bariadi West, Kahama and Morogoro Rural charged that low prices for cotton, non-payment, delayed payments and a lack of marketing efforts were some of the challenges facing growers in the country.
They also expressed concern over increased food prices caused by poor infrastructure, bad weather, high prices for farm implements and escalating global fuel prices. The need for private sector involvement in the development of agriculture in the country was also stressed by the legislators who contributed to the estimates.
They noted that the private sector should take advantage of favourable investment policies to invest in commercial farming. This, they said, would also increase employment opportunities for young people in the country. Mr Hamza Abdallah Mwenegoha (Morogoro South – CCM), told the House that cotton grown in Morogoro is “desperate for markets”.
He requested the cotton board to rescue farmers in the region by buying their cotton. Mr John Momose Cheyo (Bariadi West – UDP) expressed his bitterness over the low price of cotton in his constituency. He said the 450/- paid for a kilo of cotton compared to the high farming costs and prices of implements were not motivating cotton growers.
He informed the House that he had instructed growers in his constituency not to grow any more cotton until the government increased the price to 500/- per kilo. He said: “The problem is that the government motivates farmers to increase efforts in farming but is not prepared to buy the produce. This is a lack of seriousness.”
Mr Cheyo advised the government to allow other banks – apart from the CRDB which he blames for bureaucracy – to provide services to cotton growers. Mr James Lembeli (Kahama – CCM), told the House that Shinyanga Region produces 60 per cent of the total cotton production in the country. He said he was concerned about the low prices (of 420/- a kilo) offered to farmers. He said: “As a result some farmers are reluctant to sell their cotton at that price.
The cotton is now stored. Farmers earn about 150/- for a kilo of cotton annually after incurring a lot of production costs. Their efforts are being wasted.” Mr Jackson Makwetta (Njombe North-CCM) proposed the need to take agricultural shows down to ward level. He said most farmers in the country live at that level. He praised TASO for a job well done. He called for improvement of infrastructure in highly productive regions in order to ease the movement of goods and services to markets.
