Tanzania: Public Urged to Consume Pigeon Peas to Improve Health

2 May 2022
Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
By Suleiman Shagata in Mwanza

SMALL Enterprises Institutional Development (SEIDA) and Agricultural Markets Development Trust (AMDT) have embarked on a campaign to push for more local consumption of pigeon peas to 74,000 tonnes per year in efforts to improve public health.

Chief Executive Officer of SEIDA Mr Frederick Ogenga, advised Tanzanians to promote domestic market for the pigeon peas to boost local consumption since the crop has various nutrients which are essential for human being and also can help farmers to increase their daily income.

Mr Ogenga said SEIDA and AMDT have launched a project to enable small and medium scale growers of pigeon peas to increase production and the public to consume more.

He said the project starts as pilot in the regions of Mwanza, Dodoma, Morogoro, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Arusha from March to June this year.

Mr Ogenga said the aim of the project is to inform, research and to understand the situation and to encourage the public to consume the crop.

Current production of the crop is between 140,000 and 150,000 tonnes per year while local consumption is only 11,000 tonnes.

He said more than 60 per cent of pigeon peas produced in the country depend on foreign markets, which is dominated by the Indian market by more than 95 per cent.

Nutrition Officer in Mwanza Region, Ms Sophia Lazaro, advised the public to consume the crop since it is rich in protein, which is key to fighting malnutrition among children.

Currently, the rate of malnutrition in the region stands at 29 per cent.

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