Govt urged to protect rice farmers #tanzania

FUTURE rice imports should attract a 25 per cent import duty unless the government consults with farmers to ensure that the domestic market is not saturated with 'cheap' commodities. The Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Chief Executive Officer, Mr Geoffrey Kirenga, said last year's decision by the government to waive import duty on 60,000 tonnes of imported rice was wrong and the mistake which should not be repeated. "The good thing is that we have a listening government and when local farmers complained after importation of almost half the amount the exercise was stopped," Mr Kirenga told a news conference in Dar es Salaam. He pointed out that such actions frustrated both big and smallholder farmers efforts. He said effects of the rice imports were still being felt by local farmers after prices of the commodity plunged by over a half as local rice was forced to compete with cheap imports from Asia. "This imported commodity did not only affect our domestic market but also foreign neighbouring markets such as Uganda and Burundi blocking our exports," he noted. The SAGCOT CEO said they are currently working with Ministry of East African Cooperation to defend the country's rice exports to the region after imports violated regional regulations and compromised quality as well. "I think in future, rice farmers will have to negotiate with the government through their own legal apex body on future imports to make sure that consensus is reached before authorisation," he hinted. Touted as a model agriculture development project incorporating 'Kilimo Kwanza' blue print, SAGCOT seeks to boost private sector investment into the agriculture sector by working in partnership with smallholder farmers. Currently, an estimated 12 million smallholder farmers mainly producing food crops are targeted to work with large scale commercial producers who help provide capital, technology and modern crop husbandry practices to increase quality and quantity of commodities. One of the most successful partnerships between smallholder farmers and large scale foreign investors is Kilombero Plantation Limited. "Under KPL, smallholder rice farmers' production has increased from 750 kilogrammes per hectare during the first year when 7,000 farmers were recruited to between 5 and 11 tonnes," he noted. KPL Chief Executive Officer, Carter Coleman told the 'Daily News' recently that his company posted a whopping 4bn/- loss as a result of the Asian rice imports. "Some 40,000 tonnes of cheap Pakistani rice that was exempt from the Common External Tariff of the East African Community (EAC) was imported, dropping the wholesale price by 54 per cent and impoverishing hundreds of thousands of rice smallholder farmers,? Mr Coleman said. He said KPL still has 1,000 tonnes of rice from the 2012 season and another 5,000 tonnes from last season which cannot be sold at a profitable price due to a saturated domestic market. Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives Minister, Eng Christopher Chiza suspended rice imports in March of last year following complaints from local producers and donors. Eng Chiza said the government had approved the imports to help lower prices as local rice farmers were accused of hoarding the commodity which forced prices to peak at over 2,000/- a kilogramme and was feared to fuel inflation.