AGRICULTURE is termed as the backbone of Tanzania's economy, accounting for more than one-quarter of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), providing 85 per cent of exports and employs about 80 per cent of the workforce.
It has the potential to increase incomes and improve livelihoods, ensure food security by farmers increasing quality and quantity of crops produced so as to have even surplus for export and earn the nation foreign currencies.
On its cards, the government has been planning and focusing on agriculture as a means to achieve economic growth. Its plans incorporate private sector engagement including the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) initiative, a public-private partnership to increase agricultural business investments in the country's southern corridor.
For some years, plans have not been executed well, but this time round the government is walking the talk and is committed on green revolution that is actually now turning to a reality following official inauguration of the subsidisation system for fertiliser ahead the coming farming season.
During the climax of the Agriculture exhibitions at the John Mwakangale grounds in Mbeya city, President Samia Suluhu Hassan launched the subsidy system that will enable farmers to get fertiliser at an affordable price for the farming season 2022/23.
This comes after Parliament approved a record 950bn/- for the Ministry of Agriculture for this financial year. Out of that sum, 150bn/- is allocated to subsidising fertilisers that will now be sold at a flat rate across the country.
It is laudable and something to be proud of, as the system that will be coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture through the Tanzania Fertiliser Regulatory Authority (TFRA) is expected to commence tomorrow.
Undoubtedly, fertiliser application, with right type, quality and time, is important for crops. To grow healthy crops full of nutrients, farmers need to ensure they have healthy soil. Without fertilisers, nature struggles to replenish the nutrients in the soil.
When crops are harvested, important nutrients are removed from the soil, because they follow the crop and end up at the dinner table. If the soil is not replenished with nutrients through fertilising, crop yields will deteriorate over time.
It is against that background, the government has seen it imperative to issue the subsidy, so that farmers get lowered prices of fertilisers to an average of between 50,000/- and 70,000/- from the current market price of up to 136,135/-.
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President Samia assured of the government's willpower to continue supporting enhancements in the agriculture sector since it's a backbone for the country's economy. Farmers, both small and medium scale should tap this opportunity without delay so as to get the standard yield.
They should also make sure they start commercialising their farming for an improved productivity that will guarantee food security as well as providing surplus that will be exported.
In the year 2021, the government collected 47.8bn/- from rice exportation, up from 176.5bn/- that was recorded in the year 2020. From this year the amount should go up significantly, after the green revolution initiative is fully implemented.
Farmers should agree with experts' opinion on the importance of fertiliser. They should visualise that fertilising of crops enables a chain that provides humans with nutritional food. The nutrients feed the soil, the soil feeds the plants and plants feed people and animals.
The three most common mineral fertilisers are those based on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The International Fertiliser Association (IFA) estimates that 85 per cent of the soils globally are deficient in nitrogen. 73 per cent of the soils are deficient in phosphorus, whereas 55 per cent lack potassium.
That is why the government's initiative is a right one and has come at a right time.
Often, the plants have few possibilities to avoid nutrient deficiencies without the help of fertiliser.
