Relief for farmers as Samia assures of reliable markets

Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan has assured farmers that the government will provide reliable markets for their produce even if challenges arise in international markets.

She told a public rally that whenever new challenges arise in export markets for Tanzania’s produce, the government will purchase all the crops and store them until it obtains export markets.

“When there are challenges in foreign markets, the government is ready to buy those crops, store them, and sell them when markets become available,” she said during a public rally at Igunga.

Meanwhile, in another development, she said that the government was constructing vocational training centres to ensure that Tanzanians get the relevant expertise that’s required in the implementation of mega projects and reduce the number of imported workers in the execution of development ventures.

She said people have been missing opportunities that are being taken by foreigners due to a lack of skills that are needed in various development projects being implemented in the country.

“Many projects are implemented by the government in which young people miss the opportunities taken by foreigners due to a lack of skills,” she said.

She said that through training in colleges, the youth will also have the ability to be self-employed and lead their lives.

According to her, those trained at the colleges will be linked to the Building a Better Tomorrow (BBT) initiative, where graduates will have the ability to increase the value of crops and livestock.

She noted that the colleges will ensure that the attendees have knowledge according to the respective areas and give the example of Igunga District to have agricultural and livestock sectors where the attendees will be empowered in the expertise of increasing the value of agricultural products and livestock.

The minister of education, Prof. Adolf Mkenda, said vocational colleges are important in the country as they aim to enable a person who has completed any education to gain knowledge and be able to be self-employed or do activities to run his life.

He said currently the construction of vocational colleges in 64 districts is ongoing, including one with regional status being built in the Songwe region, and once they are completed, all districts in the country will have such colleges as well as all regions in the country.

Meanwhile, on Monday, while at Iramba district in Singida, President Hassan directed authorities involved in overseeing projects, including those that are donor-funded, to stop bureaucracy and instead plan accordingly to end unnecessary delays that delay the projects.

She said this when receiving the Rural Energy Agency’s (REA) third-phase project in Iramba, Singida.

According to her, while in India, she received information on how projects funded by the Indian government face major challenges, including delays in tax exemption, worker permits, and taking out equipment at the ports.

“This is serious because we are the makers of our own challenges; the government delays its own procedures for failure to have a systematic procedure,” she said.

 She therefore directed authorities involved in overseeing projects to ensure they are completed on time so that the projects can be implemented on time to benefit the public.

Earlier, she said that her visit to the Singida region included launching various development projects, including education and infrastructure that will connect Singida with Simiyu, Tabora and other neighbouring regions.

She noted that the government was also planning to build a roundabout at Dodoma that would connect to Singida. However, she noted that while connecting the regions, there were some roads that faced many accidents, making it important to fund them, including improving the Sekenke road.

She said that they were now implementing REA phase three, which will see 120 villages in Iramba electrified so that by mid-2024, the whole of Singida will have electricity.

On water projects, she called on experts to distribute water to household levels and use technology metres that will see people using water according to what they have paid, which will end complaints.