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Tanzania shines with substantial agri production gains
Washington, DC based Marshall Matz serves on the board of the World Food Program-US; the Congressional Hunger Centre and the Global Child Nutrition Foundation. Writing in the Agri-Pulse agricultural weekly report, Matz notes substantial production gains in Tanzania, where "yields for maize soybeans, beans, groundnuts, cowpeas, and chickpeas that are important sources of incomes and nutritious food in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa," have recently doubled - and even trebled - for some smallholder farmers.
The African Union has urged all African governments to devote at least 10% of their budgets to agriculture and many countries are responding, Matz says, quoting Dr. Augustine Langyintuo from the Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), who said that African agriculture is transforming "because governments are making agriculture a priority, embracing public- private partnerships and are working with farmers' organisations to further economic development." At AGRA's annual retreat in Kenya last month it became clear just how bold and disciplined their leaders are in "growing Africa out of poverty."
And agro-dealers, Matz says, are on the front line, interfacing directly with the local smallholder farmers, selling small bags of seeds and fertilizers that can be transported by hand or on a bicycle. "Across Africa," he concludes "the number of agro-dealers trained in business management by AGRA has increased from 331 in 2007 to 13,859 in 2011."
Read the full article on www.agri-pulse.com.
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