Agriculture ministry official Mshindo Msolla, discusses a point with Airtel’s Francis Kiaga (centre) and Sibesonke’s Hubert Rwehumbiza yesterday in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | VEnance Nestory
What you need to know:
Dr Msolla said that although in 2013/14 financial year, the government had a plan to recruit 1,804 officers, still the shortage was there.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has just about 35 per cent of its required extension officers, a situation that negatively impacts on the growth of the agricultural sector.
The ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives latest report shows that the plan is for every village to have an extension officer, but currently over 7,000 villages do not have those experts.
“Until now only 35 per cent of villages have extension officers. By 2015 each village is supposed to have extension officers in line with government target. There are over 12,000 villages countrywide. District councils have recruited 7,974 extension officers.
The shortage is 7,108 extension officers,” said Dr Mshindo Msolla, acting permanent secretary for the ministry.
Speaking at the occasion to launch the Zantel SMS services for providing agricultural education services, Dr Msolla yesterday said that the SMS services for educating farmers on various problems affecting them, was crucial to fill the gap on provision of extension services.
Dr Msolla said that although in 2013/14 financial year, the government had a plan to recruit 1,804 officers, still the shortage was there.
Use of SMS, said Dr Msolla, would help to reach more farmers with reliable information.
He said some of the key information include farm preparation, better ways of conserving soil, commencement of farming season, availability and distribution of farm inputs, environmentally friendly practices, crop markets, pricing, crop and animal diseases, natural calamities and food security conditions.
For his part, Zantel chief Human Resource officer Francis Kiaga said the project was vital for the country because agriculture was the backbone of the economy as it employs over 70 per cent of Tanzanians.
“Apart from saving farmers’ considerable time, it would help small scale farmers produce sufficient food at affordable prices to consumers and with higher profitability,” Mr Kiaga said.
The representative of project partner, Sibesonkle, Dr Robert Rwehumbiza, said that a person who wants to connect can dial *149*50#.
“The menu screen will display a list of general information on weather forecast, details on soil management, pest control methods and information on livestock knowledge and bird flue and the like,” he says.
According to him, each for the first two weeks from yesterday farmers will access free services, but later on they will pay sh20 per each SMS sent.
