Dodoma — DODOMA: THE Dodoma Agriculture Seed Production Association (DASPA) has donated 500 kilogrammes of sorghum seeds to Primary schools in Chamwino District so that they can improve production in efforts to heighten nutrition services in schools.

Speaking during an interview with the 'Daily News', DASPA Executive Director, Mr Aithan Chaula said his organisation has been providing millet seeds to schools in Chamwino District in efforts to compliment the government's initiatives to ensure that children have adequate nutrition services while in schools so as to increase their performance as well as reduce truancy.

According to him, Sorghum seeds were being provided in Chamwino District every year as part of intensifying massive campaigns to engage in sorghum farming as millet was drought resistant.

He added that the association was producing quality seeds to ensure that there is sufficient production of crops as well as ensuring productivity in agricultural activities. He said farmers should use better seeds so that they can increase production.

Mr Chaula noted that the government was making great efforts to ensure that agriculture is becoming productive by enabling seed manufacturers to produce quality and sufficient seeds that will be distributed to farmers in their respective areas.

He said the private sector is also making great efforts to ensure that farmers join various groups and are given training aimed at helping them improve their agricultural activities and providing them with quality seeds so that they can increase agricultural production.

Mr Chaula further noted that Masia sorghum seeds were distributed to about 100 primary schools, whereas each school was supposed to cultivate an average of between one and four acres of land.

In October last year, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) challenged Tanzania to heighten production of sorghum in order to cater for the skyrocketing demand of the grain in the world market.

The Monitoring Officer at the UN body, William Lasway said that demand in the world's largest humanitarian organisation was to purchase at

least 200,000 tonnes of sorghum from Tanzania per season.

He communicated that WFP had been purchasing a huge quantity of sorghum with an eye to roll out humanitarian support to the population in need in different countries across the continent, especially in Sudan, Somalia and Burundi.