Staff Writer
14 September 2008
Nairobi — The University of Manchester of the UK is collaborating with the University of Dar es Salaam to train cotton extension officers in Tanzania.
The two institutions have partnered with the Tanzania Gatsby Trust (TGT) to fund the training of six academic staff members at Dar es Salaam University currently undergoing Masters degree studies in textile engineering, design and fashion for three years at the University of Manchester.
Olive Luena, the chief executive officer of TGT, told The EastAfrican in Dar es Salaam last week that the aim is to boost cotton production from the current 750 kilogrammes to 1,500 kilogrammes per hectare.
Ms Luena said the programme's other objective is to increase the proportion of lint consumed in the domestic textile industry from 30 to 90 per cent by 2015.
"The organisation has set aside $600,000 for the training programme, which will produce experts to be sent to train other Tanzanians at the University of Dar es Salaam's College of Engineering and Technology," she said.
The programme will enable farmers get reliable and sustainable extension services, inputs and credit so that they can maximise productivity and production.
Donald Sayi, the project co-ordinator for Tanzania Cotton and Textile Development Programme under the Tanzania Gatsby Trust and Cotton Board, said the programme will also promote labour-intensive technologies to ensure timely planting, weeding and pest control.
Mr Sayi said the technologies must apply for both food crops as well as cotton because farmers spend their labour on food crops before cotton. Since the inception of the programme, results so far are good as farmers involved have doubled their yield and they are enthusiastic about increasing acreage.
"The programme has recorded positive results with farmers involved doubling their yields for both cotton and maize.
In Kwimba, for instance, cotton yields increased from 500 kg per acre to 1,100 kg," he said.
Recently, Tanzania Gatsby Trust signed a memorandum of understating with Vocation for Education and Training Authority (VETA) and Tanzania Cotton Board for a clothes design training programme.
A total of $300,000 has been approved for designing a training programme at VETA for the three years from 2008 to 2010.
A total of 60 students and six members of academic staff will be trained.
The programme seeks to attract local and international investments in agriculture in order to increase value addition in the domestic consumption of cotton lint.
Tanzania Gatsby Trust says it is committed to support of small and medium size enterprises in Tanzania. It is registered as a charitable trust under the trustees' incorporation ordinance.
Engineering training in Tanzania started in 1973 when the then Faculty of Engineering was established at the University of Dar es Salaam with the support of the German government.
The Co-ordinating Office for Engineering and Technology (COET) was established in December 2001.
COET also co-ordinated other related units that were established or adopted, including the Technology Development and Transfer Centre and the Bureau for Industrial Co-operation.
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