AS the ongoing exercise to register farmers for getting subsidized fertilizer has reached 1.3 farmers, so far, the government sets measures to curb smuggling of that farm input outside the country.
"We have started registration a month ago and so far we have reached 1.3 million farmers in the system, and nearly 50 per cent of them have got their passwords and unique identity number," Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe revealed through his twitter handle, recently.
In the new development, the Tanzania Fertilizer Regulatory Authority (TFRA) asked Regional Commissioners (RCs) nationwide to ensure they control smuggling of subsidized fertilizers out of the country through borders located in their regions.
The TFRA urged the regional bosses to effectively supervise the distribution of the fertilizer to the targeted farmers in the country.
The authority noted that the government intends to register seven million beneficiaries of the subsidized fertilizer in the exercise which will end in December this year.
TFRA Executive Director Dr Stephan Ngailo stated this during a recent meeting brought together all RCs in Dodoma aimed at discussing distribution of fertiliser to farmers.
Dr Ngailo stated that the subsidized fertiliser is supposed to reach to farmers so that they could use it during the next growing season.
"We urge Regional Commissioners to help us control smuggling of fertilizers through boarders," Dr Ngailo appealed.
Last week, Agriculture minister Bashe also informed the public that they expect to register seven million farmers.
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The minister had also said the registration exercise was scheduled to last until December, this year, in different regions where the exercise was ongoing.
He however admitted that in some regions the registration was going at a snail pace, hence he issued directive to the RCs to ensure that they task extension officers to educate farmers over the importance of being registered so as to get the subsidized fertilizer.
Mr Bashe also challenged RCs to motivate more farmers in their jurisdictions to get registered.
The supply of the subsidized fertilizer is the intention by President Samia Suluhu Hassan to support farmers to produce efficiently for their benefits and nation at large.
He also spoke over construction of crop warehouses whereby he noted that the warehouses will be built in various regions for reserving crops.
