By TZBN Staff.
The United States of America has announced it will spend $40 million to mitigate food insecurity and build food system resilience across Africa. The funds will especially be used to help private sector farmers improve crop yields in six countries including Tanzania.
The funds will be used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia, according to a USAID statememt. The US Government efforts will support smallholder farmers to increase yields, mitigate impacts of extreme weather with improved crop varieties, and improve water use efficiency and access, reducing risks to future harvests in the Zambezi River Basin, the statement said.
[The term ‘improved crop varieties’ refers to ‘hybridization’ and crop genetic modification].
USAID works with governments and private partners to help mitigate the impacts of food system shocks and build resiliency for the future. In line with the U.S.-African Union Joint Strategic Partnership on Food Security, the funding will help accelerate a regional, African-led approach to boost agricultural productivity, market linkages, improve nutrition, and leverage the private sector to enhance food security.
While food prices have come down from the record levels of 2022, food insecurity remains high due to recurrent shocks to food systems, the statement said. USAID implements the food security initiative through a program called Feed the Future.
In areas supported by Feed the Future, hunger and poverty have dropped by as much as 25 percent over the past decade, the statement said, adding that hunger will not be solved by emergency aid alone.
Through this funding and strategic partnerships, Feed the Future is breaking the cycle of food insecurity by making long-term investments in agrifood systems that accelerate innovative research and build lasting connections with the private sector.
In Tanzania, Feed the Future makes targeted investments emphasizing private sector development to ensure long-term sustainability of poverty reduction and nutrition goals. These investments help smallholder farmers be more competitive in producing and marketing staple foods like rice and maize, increase production of horticulture products (vegetables and fruits), and construct rural feeder roads to improve farmers’ access to markets, USAID Reports.
To improve nutrition, Feed the Future promotes the consumption of high-quality nutritious foods and improved food processing techniques such as fortifying flour with micronutrients like iron, vitamin A, zinc, and folic acid.
Furthermore, private sector investment and policy initiatives improve the business enabling environment to promote agricultural growth. Research activities conducted in partnership with local institutions help build the capacity necessary for long-term agricultural development.
While Tanzania’s economy has steadily grown over the past decade, over 49 percent of Tanzania’s population lives on less than $1.90 a day (World Bank, 2011). Malnutrition remains high. Over 34 percent of children under age five are stunted and nearly 45 percent of women of reproductive age are anemic. To help Tanzania achieve the second Sustainable Development Goal—to end hunger, promote sustainable agriculture, and achieve food security and improved nutrition—USAID is working closely with the country to address these challenges.
Tanzania’s agriculture sector—which contributes nearly one-third of the country’s GDP and employs 75 percent of the population—has the potential to increase incomes and improve livelihoods. Feed the Future – the United States Government’s global hunger and food security initiative – supports plans, led by Tanzania, to reduce poverty and improve nutrition.
This year, Tanzania is meanwhile expected to export 500,000 tonnes of maize to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under a trade agreement signed on May 21, 2024.
Quoting officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, The East African, a weekly newspaper based in Nairobi, Kenya recently reported Tanzania was expecting a maize bumper harvest in 2024 where the surplus will exceed the preliminary demand assessment of maize. More than 1.2 million tonnes is estimated to be available for export markets to neighbouring countries, the outlet said.
The Tanzania National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) executive director Dr Andrew Komba said the agency was set to start buying maize, rice and other food crops from farmers for storage and selling to local and foreign food markets beginning July 2024. The agency had opened 14 crop purchasing centres in leading maize producing areas in the southern highlands.
The Ministry of Agriculture had allocated Tsh300 billion ($115 million) for buying some 300,000 tonnes of food crops during the harvesting season between June and July.
Minister for Agriculture Hussein Bashe said Tanzania expects to produce 31.5 million tonnes of food crops in 2024, compared to 20.4 million tonnes harvested in 2023. He said the country expects to harvest over 10 million tonnes of maize during the 2024 season that runs between mid-June and July, the outlet reported.
