EDITORIAL: RESEARCH KEY IN TANZANIA’S DEVELOPMENT ENDEAVOURS
Tanzania has set itself the ambitious goal of transforming into a middle-income, semi-industralised economy by 2025. The country has already attained lower middle-income status, but the semi-industrialised bit seems a long way off, never mind that 2025 is less than four years away.
It is common knowledge that for a country to industrialise rapidly, its productive efforts must be founded on research. Agriculture, for instance, which employs either directly and indirectly over 80 per cent of working-age Tanzanians, needs to be radically transformed so that farmers can harvest much more that they currently do. Research should show us the way to that end.
Being scientific in the way our farmers undertake agriculture is therefore a must, hence the need to enhance research, whose findings should be aptly applied. Scholars and other experts are duty-bound to conduct research and release findings that can bring change in the way Tanzanians do things.
Any research findings that are left to gather dust on shelves at research and higher education institutions are at best a waste of resources that went into compiling them. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of research conducted over the years that has not been taken into consideration, let alone applied, often for flimsy reasons.
This, however, should not discourage our researchers from continuing with their noble duty of employing scientific methods to determine what needs to be done to modernise Tanzania’s economy, and improve Tanzanians’ living standards in the coming years.
A major disconnect in this endeavour is that not enough resources are being allocated, making most of our researchers depend on handouts from foreign donors. But most often, the benefactors have their own interests, priorities and conditions, which might not suit our local needs. In fact, this could also limit the areas and scope of our own research.
The government should pump more funds into research if it is really intent on turning Tanzania into an export-driven economy.
AGRARIAN REFORMS TIMELY
Agriculture has been ingrained into our minds as the backbone of our economy since independence in 1961. However, despite efforts to revolutionise agriculture, productivity remains low, with most farmers still trapped in abject poverty.
Either ineffective agricultural policies and regulatory frameworks, or poor implementation of multiple reforms and programmes – or both – that have failed the sector.
Agriculture is the main economic activity of nearly 80 percent of Tanzanians – mostly in subsistence farming, which hardly contributes significantly to the gross domestic product. However, there is a glimmer of hope that productivity may rise following promises of ostensibly functional reforms by Agriculture minister Adolf Mkenda.
Hopefully, the envisioned inclusive reforms will be properly-researched, and without hyped slogans. The reforms should transform issues of inputs, extension services, financial access, weather vagaries, insurance and markets for the farmers.
Indeed, agriculture is a strategic sector as it ensures food security and industry-related raw materials. Interventions by the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank and Small Industries Development Organisation lately deserve credit. Hopefully, their presence will be felt more after the forthcoming reforms.
Moreover, it is imperative that farmers receive proper farming education to enable them perform more fruitfully.
