Two agreements have been signed by the government and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) aimed at supporting farmers on issues related to climate change and improve competitiveness in rice farming, particularly in Iringa Region.
The agreements were signed in Dar es Salaam between the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Eng Mathew Mtigumwe and FAO Country Representative, Mr Fred Kafeero.
Mr Kafeero said right after the signing that the agreement on Climate Smarter Agriculture is meant to support and strengthen the resilience of farmers in the face of climate change.
He said FAO will be specifically working with Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) in ensuring timely and relevant information is provided in a manner that farmers can understand weather patterns and climate-related aspects.
He said, “In financing the project, we are working in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture and other partners,”. He further said that the second agreement relates to improving competitiveness particularly for rice production in Iringa Region.
The European Union has invested 1.5 million US dollars in the project. FAO also uses its technical cooperation programme 3999970001funds to co-finance this particular project, ideally, it is meant for farmers to make meaningful income out of their work in rice production.
Eng Mtigumwe, the Ministry’s PS, said that the signing of the two agreements will help implementation of the Agricultural Sector Development Programme II.
“The issue of climate and smarter agriculture and improving competitiveness in rice production are well highlighted in ASDP II, thus this is a good sign for implementation of the programme,” he said.
