Tanzania expects food crop harvests: official

Tanzanians, especially those in drought-hit regions, have been offered a tiding of good news that their country is expecting a food crop harvest and hence a food surplus, local media reported on Thursday.

Tanzanian Agriculture Minister Joseph Mungai told lawmakers, in Dodoma where the country's parliament is now in session, that the fiscal year 2006-2007 was expecting a food production of 10.73 million tons, allowing a 1-million-ton surplus.

Tanzania currently needs 9.73 million tons of food to feed its population of 36 million each year.

Late last year and early this year, Tanzania sounded an alarm of food shortage in 10 of its 26 administrative regions at the heels of persistent drought, affecting more than 3.6 million people in 618,816 households.

But seasonal rains thereafter have augured well for bumper food crop harvests in such regions as Mtwara, Ruvuma, Rukwa, Mara, Kigoma, Tanga, Mbeya, Lindi, Kagera, Morogoro, Iringa and Manyara, according to the minister.

Mungai also disclosed to the parliamentarians their country is importing 30,000 tons of food to boost up the country's Strategic Government Reserve of food.

Tanzania is shifting to irrigation farming to boost food production as the government has set aside a special fund of 1.4 trillion shillings (1.12 billion U.S. dollars) for popularizing irrigation farming in the east African country.

The fund, starting from the fiscal year 2006-2007, will cover a span of seven years.

Tanzania has been relying on subsistence agriculture and lack of rains often cause poor harvests and food shortages.

Source: Xinhua