Govt moves to boost farming

ar es Salaam. The government has introduced a new organ - placed under the Ministry of Agriculture – as it seeks to raise productivity of the sector that employs over 70 per cent of Tanzanians in the working age.

The organ, known as Platform for Agricultural Policy Analysis and Co-ordination (PAPAC), aims at increasing the participation of private sector and research stakeholders in tackling chronic problems affecting the sector.

It will therefore involve people from academia, research institutes, policy analysis think tanks, representatives from farmers’ organizations, the National Bureau of Statistics as well as representatives from the public and private sectors.

The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Mr Yamungu Kayandabila said that PAPAC was set to support the implementation of Tanzania Agricultural and Food Security Investment Plan (TAFSIP) which was launched in 2011.

The government launched TAFSIP four years ago in order to implement the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) with the major aim of ensuring food security in the continent.

“So by bringing together key stakeholders, PAPAC intends to be a functional (as opposed to an institutional unit) co-ordinated by a secretariat to be hosted in the directorate of policy and planning in the ministry responsible for agriculture,” he said.

The ministry’s director of policy and planning, Ms Janet Simkanga said the PAPAC advisory committee team - to be chaired by the director of policy and planning - constitutes three executive members, including a policy analyst and co-ordinator, an assistant policy analyst and an administrative assistant.

She also said that the advisory committee was also set to include members from the private sector or non-state actors and development partners.

Under the TAFSIP, the government is implementing the plan with one of its objective to increase the annual growth of agriculture from current 4.4 per cent to at least 6 per cent, according to 2011 ministry’s document.

It also aims at increasing financing of the sector up to 10 per cent of the total budget in line with the 2003 Maputo Declaration on CAADP by African nations.Source