NFRA DECISION GOOD FOR FARMERS, FOOD SECURITY
Maize prices have plunged by almost 50 percent in recent months, leaving farmers either surrendering their yields at low prices, or resorting to hoarding.
Many a time, our farmers count losses after considerably investing in their farms – only to be let down by prices of their produce, which are often dictated by unscrupulous traders and middlemen.
Indeed, farmers have reason to hoard their harvests in the hope that prices will rise later in the year, thus enabling them to recover their farming costs – and, hopefully, make some profit.
Such desperate options have repercussions on food supply, for traders also apply more-or-less similar tactics in trying to push up prices for end-consumers.
We, therefore, applaud the government for coming to the rescue of maize farmers who had, out of desperation, been selling a 100-kilogramme bag of the grain at a paltry Sh25,000, down from at least Sh50,000 in better times.
Concerns by Agriculture minister Adolf Mkenda have borne fruit as the National Food Reserve Authority (NFRA) has started buying maize from farmers at Sh500 per kilogramme: double what traders had been offering to the farmers.
NFRA started buying maize in the six major maize producing regions of Ruvuma, Njombe, Songwe, Mbeya, Rukwa and Katavi.
Undoubtedly, this should benefit our farmers – if only because it will help uplift maize prices, as farmers will no longer be cornered into selling their produce at such low prices.
However, the NFRA endeavours should not end in the southern regions. Farmers in other regions of the country should also benefit from this strategy, which promises to improve their living standards. Certainly, this will also motivate them to produce more.
If not well-controlled, traders almost invariably seek to create artificial shortages so as to make a killing at the marketplace. The NFRA move is, therefore, not only a boon for farmers; it will also guarantee national food security.
USAID’S APPEAL MAKES SENSE
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Tanzania has called for the establishment of a strong and well-coordinated system of managing health promotion which would lead to proper use of resources.
The appeal was made by the USAID Health director based in the country, Ms Anathy Thambinayangam, in Dodoma on Tuesday.
Stressing that “the future of health promotion lies in the appropriate use of information to make evidence-based decisions at both the institutional and individual levels,” the director expressed satisfaction that USAID has been part of the support which has enabled health promotion “to achieve its current milestones…”
Indeed, the USAID has significantly been supporting health promotion across the country through the ‘Tulonge Afya’ project established in 2017 via the Health Promotion Digital Platform, a hub being used to disseminate health-related information in Tanzania.
USAID’s efforts, including the establishment of a social behaviour change scheme in 12 regions to the prevailing social and behavioural negatives are commendable.
We also call upon the government and other related institutions to fully cooperate with USAID in this noble undertaking.
