Tanzania urges agro-research institutes to find alternative sources of funds

Dar es Salaam. The government has directed all agricultural research institutions to find out ways of mobilizing additional funds to bridge subsidy gaps provided by the government under the annual budget.

Answering questions from legislators during the budget meeting on Thursday, deputy minister for Agriculture, Dr Mary Mwanjelwa, said the government had already issued a policy guideline to enable public agricultural research institutions to design their own projects that can generate additional revenue to refrain from overdependence on government subsidies.

The Member of Parliament for Mtama constituency, Mr Nape Nnauye, queried why the government was still allocating insufficient funds to Naliendele Research Institute for further improvement of cashew-nut productivity.

Mr Nnauye said that due to insufficient funds most agricultural research institutes in the country were operating below their capacity and providing poor research services to farmers.