Government of Tanzania to unveil major plan to end agriculture marketing woes
By Special Correspondent, Dar es Salaam – The President’s Delivery Bureau (PDB) that oversees implementation of the Big Results Now (BRN) initiative, has invited key agriculture stakeholders to evaluate and propose solutions to critical agriculture marketing issues in Tanzania. Towards that end, a five day mini lab has been organized to review current marketing models and trends for maize and paddy.
Inaugurating the lab in Dar es Salaam on Monday, PDB’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Omari Issa called upon all stakeholders involved to work together in developing practical solutions that will provide short term and long term relief to Tanzanian farmers.
“BRN’s discipline requires both private and public actors to work together in unlocking critical issues facing key sectors like agriculture and that solutions to the marketing issues should come from both,” said the CEO.
The mini lab that is going on in Dar es Salaam, involves more than 50 participants from private sectors, international organizations, government representatives as well as farmers.
Tanzania as a whole, and specifically the schemes under BRN, experienced an enhanced crop yields of maize and paddy in the 2013/14 season which opened up new opportunities and challenges. In the season, maize production reached 6 million tonnes from an average of 4.5 million in the five previous seasons. Rice production reached 1.7 million tonnes against an average of about 0.85 million tonnes previously.
Current efforts to find a lasting solutions have been futile as many farmers have for many seasons been complaining of lack of reliable markets, poor prices leading to frustrations for more investment in the sector.
BRN delivery methodology is a holistic transformation approach focused on delivering specific goals within a stipulated delivery timeline. Launched in mid-2013, BRN is a critical enabler towards the realisation of Tanzania Development Vision 2025 (TDV 2025).
The Methodology comprises a highly adaptable set of tools enabling the proactive tracking, monitoring and problem solving within the implementation framework. Together, these steps establish a developmental transformation framework prioritising inclusiveness, problem solving and accountability.
BRN adopts laboratories (lab) as its problem solving innovation to involve pro-active steps in finding solutions for sectorial issues. A lab comprises a team of experts and stakeholders that are convened into closed meetings and jointly required to find solutions to a complex problem based on clear and rigorous analysis and prioritisation to develop detailed implementation plans with measurable Key Performance Indicators.
Mr. Omari is optimistic that the lab will come up with major solutions: “At the end of the lab, participants will come up with recommendations and an action plan for establishing a sustainable market infrastructure and linkages for maize and paddy. It is expected that those recommendations can be replicated for other crops.”
