Ministry directs NFRA to buy farmers’ crops
Agriculture minister Japhet Hasunga (third left), accompanied by the National Food Reserve Agency’s (NFRA) workers, speaks during a visit to the grain storage warehouses that are currently under construction at Songea District in Ruvuma Region on Saturday. PHOTO| AGRICULTURE MINISTRY.
Songea. Farmers have been assured of a reliable market after the ministry of Agriculture ordered the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) and the Cereals and Mixed Crops board to start buying their produce.
The NFRA has been tasked to look into modalities of buying cereals from farmers while the Mixed Crops board will now direct its efforts in purchasing various crops before searching for markets. Agriculture minister Japhet Hasunga gave the order on Saturday here when speaking with NFRA employees, soon after inspecting newly installed crop silos.
He said farmers had been sensitised on improving crop production for both food and commercial purposes. However, he said this had resulted in a dramatic fall in prices, a situation that the government did not want.
The order comes just a few days after the NFRA signed an agreement with the World Food Programme (WFP) to supply the latter with cereals. Mr Hasunga commended NFRA for ongoing construction of silos in seven of the agency’s zones, which will more than triple the agency’s storage capacity to 700,000 tonnes by 2025 from 251,000 tonnes currently. The $55 million (Sh124 billion) project is funded by the government of Poland. The construction of the silos started in Songea, Dodoma, Mpanda, Makambako, Mbozi, Sumbawanga, Shinyanga and Babati.
“The new silos will increase storage capacity and reduce storage costs when compared with the current system,” he said.
