Govt to strive for better crop prices, pledges RC

Mtwara. The government will not give up on the struggle for better crop prices produced by peasants in Mtwara and Lindi regions and on urging people take part in emerging economic opportunities in their areas, Mtwara Regional Commissioner Halima Dendegu, said here yesterday.

Address the two regions’ regional and district functionaries at an economic empowerment consultative meeting organised by the National Economic Empowerment Council (Neec), Ms Dendegu said the government is behind peasants in the struggle for a better life.

For, she said, peasants have proven to be strategic crop producers, willing and ready for change to increase their disposable income and change their lives for the better. The government will ensure people get markets and fair prices for their products, she pledged, giving the example of good prices for cashew nuts.

But, the RC emphasised, the positive change peasants are eager to witness will come about as speedily as expected if leaders at all levels will become innovative agents of change, who empower people to unearth economic opportunities for their advancement. “This meeting seeks to make us agents of change as Tanzania struggles to become a medium economy country. Therefore, we must practice the knowledge we have been given in relation to coordination, supervision and follow up on the implementation of economic empowerment policy.”

She praised the Neec for choosing the two regions for the meeting, which she said, seeks to empower leaders to become inventive agents of change keen on leading people to transform their socio-economic status in the two multi-endowed regions. The meeting has made leaders have a common understanding of people’s economic empowerment.