Dar es Salaam:2, May 2012: Ginners must invest in contract farming in
order to stay in the industry, the Minister of Agriculture Professor Jumanne
Maghembe said today in Dar es Salaam.
Addressing a stakeholders meeting, the
minister said contract farming was the only viable vehicle to put Tanzania’s
cotton at the top of the ladder in the world market.
The remarkable output of cotton this year, the
highest record ever, is due to the availability of inputs on credit for farmers
under contract farming, which has greatly improved the yields, he said.
And for that, he said the government
supports contract farming and instructed the sector to continue with
implementing the progressive strategy.
“The
results in the few years contract framing has been adopted are remarkable, they
speak for themselves. Many farmers are happy,” he said.
In order for contract farming to be
successful, the Minister stressed that there are important rules that must be
followed. He said the government was committed to providing an enabling policy environment
for the cotton sector and it would honour its commitment to farmers and
ginners.
“Those ginners that have not met the conditions
set by the government, and have not made investments in the sector by May 15th,
will not receive licenses”, he said, to applause from all stakeholders present.
He agreed that some non-investing ginners
were against contract farming but added that it was important for all serious
ginners to come on board.
The Tanzania Cotton Board Director General
Marco C. Mtunga supported the minister saying that if contract farming is
implemented in the cotton sector, Tanzania can become the leading cotton
producer in Africa.
He said contract farming helps to increase
yield increase through input support and extension services by ginners.
“There is improved quality, increased
transparency at buying posts, growers are empowered to manage their own affairs
and there is increased level of mechanization under contract farming,” he said.
He said a cross section of ginners who
don’t want to invest in contract farming but just do free for all buying are
very much against contract farming. He said 18 companies are busy campaigning
for the status quo. “The group has been sabotaging the process from the
beginning,” he said.
However, he showed facts which made it
clear that contract farming is very beneficial to farmers. In the
implementation of Contract Farming this season about 62% of estimated 500,000
growers have signed contracts with ginners through 5,565 Farmer Business Groups
(311,000 growers), who have all received inputs on credit. He said about 17
companies, who process 80% of all the cotton in the country, have already
invested by paying the input advance, and that the sector now is just waiting
for strong support from the government.
He said if contract farming is abandoned
Tanzania should forget about the revival of the industry.
End