Though a traditional agricultural nation, Tanzania's utilization of fertilizers is the least even in Africa.

The revelation was made when Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete officiated the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a fertilizer production factory in central Tanzania over the weekend, according to reports reaching here on Monday.

Tosky Hans, board chairman of the Minjingu Mines and Fertilizers Limited, said on the occasion that per-capita utilization of fertilizers in Tanzania averaged 21 kg per hectare, whereas in South Africa and Zimbabwe it was both 52 kg per hectare.

Hans attributed the low use of fertilizers to a drop of 209,000 tons in the early 1990s to just 100,000 tons in 2000.

Thanks to a government subsidy boost, the use of fertilizers in the country rose to 150,000 tons a year in the past three years.

President Kikwete said that his government had tripled fertilizer subsidies from 7 billion Tanzanian shillings a year (5. 57 million U.S. dollars) to 21 billion shillings (16.7 million dollars) and that the subsidy would further increase with each fiscal year.

Tanzania is now resorting to fertilizers and irrigation farming to increase its agricultural productivity as well as crop yields.

Source: Xinhua