Cassava stakeholders in Tanzania called on the country’s top leadership to champion the crop to transform the country’s agricultural sector and catalyze its economic development. They emphasized that the crop, if well exploited under a national cassava development platform, can help fight poverty and hunger in the country. They appealed to Tanzania’s highest office to commit to and support this initiative.
They observed that the direct involvement of the presidents of other countries such as in Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia in cassava development initiatives had played a big role in their successes and wished to see the same in Tanzania under the guidance of the current president, H.E. (Dr) Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete. Cassava sector stakeholders aired this appeal at the conclusion of the first-ever Cassava Week in Tanzania, held on 12-16 September in Dar es Salaam.
Echoing their sentiments, Hartmann, Director General of IITA, in a speech read on his behalf by Victor Manyong, R4D Director for East and Central Africa, at the launch of the Cassava Week said that agriculture offered the country great opportunities for economic development and cassava was one crop that can play a key role in transforming the sector.
He added that it is important to increase the country’s technological capabilities to acquire, adapt, and apply modern agricultural sciences, and invest in developing the skills of Tanzanian youths to develop and run successful agribusiness. He said that the country did not lack investors; rather, it lacked skilled graduates to operate commercial agribusinesses.
Following up on the IITA DG’s lead, Hon Prof Jumanne Maghembe, Tanzania’s Minister for Agriculture, Food Security, and Cooperatives, the event’s guest of honor, noted that cassava was not only a hardy food crop that grows in almost all agro-ecological zones but can also significantly contribute to poverty reduction and foster rural development through its diverse uses. In Tanzania, cassava is the second most important source of energy after maize, comprising about 19% of the country’s food basket.
However, he said the country’s current average yield of 6 t/ha of fresh weight, compared to the potential of 30 t/ha, needed to be addressed on top of value addition and marketing. He commended the efforts by cassava sector partners to tackle issues such as breeding improved varieties, seed multiplication, and value addition. He especially cited related work by IITA, his ministry, FAO, Concern Worldwide, Africare, and universities, among others.
But more needs to be done on the marketing side, the Minister emphasized.
“We must build local capacity to efficiently, profitably, and sustainably satisfy new market dem ands with quality cassava products. This should go h and in h and with serious investments to increase processing and to create a wide range of diversified cassava products, promoting local industrial utilization of cassava products, promoting export, creating market linkage, and developing technologies that will ensure all-year round production,” he said.
He congratulated IITA and local partners for organizing the event.
Themed “Food & Wealth for All”, the Cassava Week aimed to showcase the importance and economic potential of cassava as food, industrial, and export crop in Tanzania. The event attracted farmers, NGOs, policy makers, donors, and end-users. Activities included media briefing, field trip to show participants the wide range of activities being undertaken to develop the cassava value chain, and a three-day exhibition at Karimjee Hall and grounds in Dar es Salaam.
H.E. Dr Ishaya Majanbu, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Tanzania, presented a paper on Nigeria’s experience of its presidential initiative on cassava during an open forum in which participants discussed ways to move Tanzania’s cassava sector forward. The document presented by Majanbu was prepared by Oluwotoyin Adetunji, Special Assistant on Food Security to former Nigerian President Obasanjo.
A one-day training seminar on cassava production, processing, value addition, and marketing was also conducted for over a hundred farmers and processors from across Tanzania, while cooking demonstrations were also held for the general public.
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