Dar hunts for foreign investors to boost food security

14/11/2012

Tanzania has allocated the South Korean government 100,000 hectares of land for irrigation of food crops and establishment of agro-based industries in Rufiji basin, located slightly over 100 kilometers south of Tanzania's commercial city of Dar es Salaam.

The decision is a result of a visit to the South Korean capital city of Seoul, early this year (2010) by Tanzania Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda, who talked the South Korean government or its private companies into investing in agriculture in the basin.

The basin, the biggest in the country, covers eight regions, almost one third of the country.

The basin has a total of 622,000 hectares all of which are potential for irrigation purposes.

 The coming in of South Koreans for the 100,000 hectares is considered by analysts to be just one of the bigger things to come from one of the emerging global economic giants.

Many analysts strongly believe that the South Koreans are testing the grounds, as it were, that they are likely to seek more hectares for irrigation purposes.

Once they are through with feasibility studies on the 100, 000 plus hectares for paddy irrigation, the new land under irrigation would bring total paddy irrigation in the country to 1m hectares from present 905,000 hectares until June this year (2010), according to the CountrySTAT Tanzania web-based system.

This is certainly a no mean increase for Tanzania which is literally struggling, as a result of lack of funds, to put more of its potential land for irrigation under cultivation.

In May this year (2010), the Deputy Director for Irrigation in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Mr Gabriel Kalinga told the CountrySTAT Tanzania web-site that the country's irrigation potential stood at 29m hectares.

However, if like the hunting lioness in Africa's Savannah plains, the South Koreans elected to go for the jugular vein by gobbling up the rest of the 522,000 irrigable land on the Rufiji basin, paddy irrigation in Tanzania would rise up to 1.527m hectares, once again, based on statistical data availed by the CountrySTAT Tanzania web-based system.

The beauty of the CountrySTAT Tanzania web-based system, if one may somewhat digress here, is that whoever is interested in Tanzania's agricultural development or whenever there is any notable progress in the field, one can always gauge the economic extent or stride from the CountrySTAT Tanzania web-based system.  

The basin which is traversed by one of the biggest rivers in the country, Rufiji River, is under an authority laconically referred to as RUBADA (Rufiji Basin Development Authority) and was established through an Act of Parliament Number 5 of 1975.

By bringing in South Koreans, it is the hope of the Tanzanian government that they will help it in realizing its objective of attaining a green revolution through its agricultural policy of Kilimo Kwanza, agriculture first.

It is planned that out of 100,000 hectares, 50,000 would be provided to Tanzanians, through the supervision of the South Koreans, for use in irrigation-based, scientific agricultural development.

And the remaining 50,000 hectares would be used by South Koreans in setting up agro-based industries.

One of the main objectives of such agro-based industries is to add value to the country's varied agricultural produce that include fruits.

For instance one of the most interesting phenomena which is used to describe Tanzanians' collective failure to make use of their arable land is that during mango season in Tanzania, there is not a single country in the world that produces mangoes!

What this means is that Tanzania could have easily transformed itself into a net exporter of the succulent fruit throughout the world during its mango season.

In 1974, the Japanese government had tried to talk the founding father of the Tanzanian nation, Dr Julius Nyerere into providing them with the land on the basin, for agricultural investment, but the move failed.

According to the Japanese government, paddy irrigation in the basin could have yielded over 25million bags of rice which could have fed the entire population which was then slightly over ten million.

The implication of this is that by late 1970s, Tanzania could have been in a position to export over 15million bags of rice, hence transforming the country into a net exporter of the produce.

If one considers the fact the country's present food demand (for 42m people) stands at 11million bags of cereals per annum, Tanzania would have continued, to date, to be a net exporter of rice had the Japanese government been allowed to invest in the Rufiji basin then.

That Tanzania is now busy, seeking investors interested in putting their money for agricultural development in the basin just goes to show the government's commitment in ensuring that it succeeds in the realization of its Kilimo Kwanza agricultural policy.

According to the Rubada Executive Director, Mr Aloyce Masanja, the agricultural project on the 100,000 hectares would require infusion of millions of shillings which would be acquired in the form of loans from banks in South Korea.

He said exact sum of money required for investment was presently not known.

He however, said that such a sum would become public as soon as the South Koreans finish feasibility studies on the project.

Mr Masanja said plans were now underway to place the basin under agricultural development for a five year programme which starts from 2010/11 to 2014/15.

The latest move is apparently one of Tanzania government's plans to boost food security.

Apart from the basin's high potential for irrigation, 246,500 hectares are not only fertile and thereby suitable for any agricultural development, but are also exposed to reliable rainfall.

Mr Masanja said under the Tanzania/South South Korea agreement, the latter is required to use 10,000 hectares for demonstrating to Tanzanian farmers on how to irrigate, scientifically, paddy fields.