200 experts to discuss agriculture

What you need to know:

  • More than 200 participants will discuss policies and other issues hindering the sector’s growth.
  • According to Agricultural Non-State Actor Forum executive secretary Audax Rukonge, a World Bank report titled ‘Enabling the Business of Agriculture in Tanzania,’ will also be launched. He told journalists the participants would redefine agro-processing in the context of economic transformation and locate the linkage between upstream and downstream value chain activities.

Dar es Salaam. A three-day conference on Tanzania’s agriculture development will start today here.

More than 200 participants will discuss policies and other issues hindering the sector’s growth.

According to Agricultural Non-State Actor Forum executive secretary Audax Rukonge, a World Bank report titled ‘Enabling the Business of Agriculture in Tanzania,’ will also be launched. He told journalists the participants would redefine agro-processing in the context of economic transformation and locate the linkage between upstream and downstream value chain activities.

“We are conducting such a conference because we believe that agriculture has a major role to play in making Tanzania’s industrialisation dream a reality.”

“We will also discuss the fate of smallholder farmers and traditional food markets in the transforming agriculture.” Other areas to be discussed include policies on agriculture inputs, land tenure policy and trade as well as markets to increase private sector investments in the sector.

The conference is also seeking to boost non-agricultural activities including handling, packaging, processing, transporting and marketing. Agriculture accounts for 25 per cent of Tanzania’s gross domestic product.

Meanwhile, the assistant director of policy in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr Gungu Mibavu, said the government would work on matters to be raised in the conference.