Maize Farm |
A longstanding outcry among peasants over numeral challenges facing agriculture has apparently contributed to reluctance among youth to grab abundant opportunities the sector has in store for them.
Cooperative unions
are shrouded in red tape, nuisance taxes are robbing farmers of their
incomes, farming inputs are not timely distributed, poor roads make it
hard for crops to reach the markets and the markets themselves are
shortchanging farmers.
These are but few
of the challenges which compelled retired President Jakaya Kikwete to
concede failure of his ambitious Agriculture First initiative he
strongly believed would relieve Tanzanians of unemployment and abject
poverty.
Unemployment is real
Findings of a
research the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) conducted recently
reveal that 71 per cent of Tanzanians spend most of their time engaging
in activities which are neither productive to themselves nor to the
nation at large.
This is despite
experts in agriculture claiming that the sector, which touches lives of
75 per cent of rural households, abounds with ready-made employment
opportunities for them.
According to the
Tanzania Warehouse Licensing Board, agriculture contributes 26 per cent
of the national gross domestic product, 95 per cent of foodstuff demand,
30 per cent of exports, 65 per cent of raw materials for local
manufacturers and above all, 70 per cent of Tanzanians eke out a ling
through the sector.
The CEOs’
Roundtable chairman, Mr Ali Mufuruki, does not see the reason for
Tanzanians to complain over the shortage of sugar while the country
abounds with agricultural opportunities.
Mr Mufuruki said
unlike in other sectors, agriculture could recruit a big number of
Tanzanian youth regardless of their education background.
Agricultural opportunities
Citing the shortage
of sugar rocking the country, Mr Mufuruki said youth could turn it into
opportunity if they engaged in sugar cane cultivation to meet the
demand of the sweetener throughout a year.
“I once visited
Kagera Sugar plant and learnt that it recruited 50,000 permanent workers
and 15,000 labourers to produce only about60,000 tonnes of sugar, while
the country falls short of 100,000 tonnes a year,” observed the
economist, wondering:
“The factory has to
employ over 7,000 permanent workers and 22,000 labourers to fill the
deficit of sugar, yet people are complaining of unemployment.”
Mr Mufuruki
believes Tanzania could avoid importing foodstuff if it opens up food
production, employment and economic opportunities available in the
sector that is a sleeping giant.
The Kariakoo Market
Corporation manager, Mr Florence Seiya, said most of the agricultural
opportunities currently were in horticulture, particularly the
production of yams, potato, onions and various types of fruits.
“Kenya is importing
some potatoes and onions to the marker (Kariakoo) while South Africa is
importing some fruits,” the manager of the largest market in East and
Central Africa said, stressing that the demand for horticultural produce
was high and ever growing.
The director of the
Agricultural Non State Actors forum, Mr Audax Rukonge, said employment
opportunities in agriculture were fivefold, namely production,
harvesting and storage, processing, packaging and distribution and
retailing.
“For example, if we
decide to tap in animal skins, we can create employment in selling,
slaughtering, processing and packaging and leather factories. And so is
the case with diary,” he explained.
President John
Magufuli stressed along similar lines recently when he directed social
security funds to invest in the manufacturing sector in a bid to process
raw material and to employ many Tanzanians.
Challenges
According to the
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Tanzania boasts having
43 million hectares of arable land of which only 10.8 million hectares
are cultivated mostly because a small number of youth join the
agricultural sector annually.
Statistics from the
Ministry of Labour and Employment shows that about 400,000 youth enter
the labour market each year as opposed to the government’s ability to
recruit only between 80,000 and 100,000.
Prof Prosper Ngowi
from the Department of Economics of the University of Dar es Salaam said
the biggest challenge was inability among the majority of Tanzanians to
identify and grab employment opportunities at their disposals because
they lacked entrepreneurial skills.
“But there are
those who can identify employment opportunities and raise capital, but
they are not courageous enough to venture into those opportunities,” he
said.
Prof Ngowi said
another challenge, which was beyond the ability of Tanzanians
themselves, was the harsh environment of investing in the opportunities.
A youth could
identify an employment opportunity and raise capital required for
implementing his business plan, but the government failed him through
its unfriendly policies. “
The government had,
for instance, pledged long ago that it would establish a youth
development bank to no avail, the problem is most of the plans end up in
talk shows only,” he observed.
Maswa East Member
of Parliament, Mr Stanslaus Nyongo, said when contributing to financial
plan for this fiscal year of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in
Parliament that the government ought to invest in the production of
cotton, observing that the demand of the raw materials for textile
factories was higher than what was available.
The member of the
Parliamentary Committee on Industry and Trade cited many trucks he saw
waiting for cargo at Urafiki Textile Mills in Dar es Salaam, stressing:
“I would like to urge the government to embark on a a special programme
for enhancing cotton production and crating employment opportunities.
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