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| Home News | | Kilimanjaro fails to meet production targets | PETER TEMBA in Moshi
Daily News; Thursday,December 04, 2008 @21:15
| Some 1.5 million tonnes of cash and food crops were harvested in Kilimanjaro region, of the projected 1.7 million tonnes last financial year, a report which was presented at the just-ended Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) has indicated.
The crops were cultivated on 404,786 hectares of land, of which 89,707 tonnes were cash crops while 1,510,661 tonnes were various food crops that include starch and proteins, according to Mrs Hilda Mkamba, an agricultural expert at the regional secretariat.
She informed RCC delegates that during last rainy season, sunflower production was very poor as the crop continued to be attacked by ‘Powdery Mildew,’ a devastating powder-like fungus. Farmers have been advised to plant certified seeds during the next crop season to contain the plant disease. Mrs Mkamba said the region expects to produce 1.6 million tonnes of various crops during this crop season (2008 / 2009) which will be cultivated on 427,140 hectares of land.
She revealed that this year alone, irrigated agriculture produced 168,703 tonnes of various crops that included root crops, legumes, vegetables, fruits, flowers and sugarcanes. The crops were harvested from 9,811 hectares, adding that earlier projection was to utilize 22,850 hectares to produce 131,630 tonnes of maize, paddy, beans, vegetables and sugarcanes.
Despite the achievement in irrigated agriculture, Moshi, Mwanga, Rombo and Same districts were faced with shortage of food due to uneven weather patterns, she said. Mrs Mkamba further told the RCC that some 194,486 residents in those districts needed subsidized or affordable food supplies. She said about 8,782 tonnes of food was required to feed the affected families between last October and June next year.
To avert food shortages in future the region resolved to intensify irrigated agriculture and make use of harvested rain water as well as improve husbandry of cash crops, including coffee, cotton and non-traditional crops, so as to raise sufficient money to purchase food. It has also resolved, among other strategies, to preserve food in storage facilities and adopt a warehouse receipt system, so that farmers could sell food whenever prices were attractive in the market and purchase food stocks during crop shortages. | | | | |
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