TANZANIA currently has sufficient food supplies to meet domestic needs, with a surplus available, indicating significant progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number two by 2030, the Ministry of Agriculture has said.
SDG number two aims to eliminate hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
The Director of Marketing and Food Security at the Ministry, Mr Gungu Mibavu, made the announcement over the weekend during a stakeholder meeting on food safety held in Morogoro.
The three-day event, organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and sponsored by the UN Coordination Food System, aimed at reviewing stakeholders' submissions from the global food system summit held three years ago.
Mr Mibavu said that the government is prioritising food security, with a strategy focused on self-sufficiency and exporting surplus food.
"We have implemented measures to ensure our borders are open for selling surplus food abroad, aligning with our goal to end hunger by 2030," he stated.
The ministry's efforts are part of broader commitments, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) initiated in 2015 to support the achievement of all 17 SDGs by 2030.
This includes eradicating poverty, the primary SDG, according to Mibavu.
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He highlighted Tanzania's involvement in various international agreements, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on food trade, to further this vision.
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Mr Mibavu also encouraged increased local food production at the county level, alongside national self-sufficiency and surplus.
Head of the Policy Division in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, Natural Resources and Livestock Zanzibar, Mr Sihaba Haji Vuai, presented the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar's agricultural reforms.
These reforms are based on enhancing value chains for six priority crops, including fruits, spices, and livestock. Vuai, who also coordinates Food Systems Sustainability, mentioned the Ministry's focus on improving production infrastructure, particularly for rice and vegetable crop irrigation.
"We aim to ensure that what is produced is processed and safely reaches consumers," Vuai explained.
The agricultural sector reforms are creating processing centres in each of the ten districts among the existing 11, aiming to enhance food safety and production infrastructure resilient to climate change.
Mr Vuai called for greater cooperation with stakeholders to achieve these goals.
"The Ministry of Agriculture's primary task is to ensure food safety, production, and the establishment of infrastructure that supports climate resilience and environmental conservation," he said.
