Tanzania Government to sell 50,000 tonnes of maize to Kenya

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Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives minister Christopher Chiza (R) has a word with National Food Reserve Agency workers when he visited NFRA cereal godowns in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.

The government has said that it will adhere to Kenya’s proposal of purchasing 50,000 tonnes of maize from the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) to reduce the shortage of food in the East African leading economy.

Speaking during a visit to the NFRA godowns in Dar es Salaam at the weekend, the Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Christopher Chiza said that he will hold a meeting with the Kenyan Minister for Agriculture to discuss their proposal of buying 208,000 tonnes of maize.

The government has decided to sell only 50,000 tonnes as of now of its current NRFA stock of 244,829.9 tonnes.

Chiza said: “Kenya wants to purchase 208,000 tonnes from our national food reserve but we have decided to give about 50,000 tonnes from the 244,829.9 tonnes reserve we have. I will soon meet the Kenyan agricultural minister to discuss with him their proposal.”

The minister noted that apart from Kenya, South Sudan has also proposed to buy maize in the country to improve their food shortage.

He also said that the government through NFRA has entered a pact with the World Food Programme (WFP) to put up for sale 24,000 tonnes of maize that will be given to countries experiencing food shortage.

“For the first time, in the 2014/2015 crop year, the government through NFRA expects to purchase a total of 10,000 tonnes of paddy,” he said.

NFRA is one of the largest buyers, upon whom many farmers depend, in which case measures would be taken to reduce some tonnage in the godowns to give way to the new produce, especially maize from the producing regions.

The agency is expected to sell part of the grain reserve which is 75,000 tonnes either in the local or foreign market to give enough space for the new produce to be purchased and stored in the 2014/15 agricultural season, he elaborated.

About 5,000 tonnes would be sold to different government institutions such as prison, schools and other organisations, he said, noting that revenue to be accrued from the sale of 75,000 tonnes would be used to buy the new produce from the farmers.

This year’s process of selling maize would be open to everyone to minimise complaints in the implementation of the exercise.

“The agency will place adverts on the media, so that buyers who apply would be screened based on the prices to be recommended,” he stated.

He said that buyers whose applications will be accepted would be given permits to purchase maize from the reserve in godowns upon identification by the agency.

Food production in 2013/14 totaled 13.4 million tonnes, out of which 7.44 million tonnes was cereals and 5.9 million tonnes non cereals, he added. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN