Irrigation Key to Success

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

13 April 2011

A nation that cannot feed its people, it is said, cannot justify its very existence.

The Kikwete administration’s Kilimo Kwanza initiative confirms the premium attached to agriculture. It is through schemes such as this one that sufficient resources can be channelled into revamping agriculture to enhance food security.

This is why we value a master plan initiated in 2002, which identified some 538,800 hectares of land suitable for irrigation farming in Kigoma Region. Ours, as has been said time and again, is a country whose economy is largely dependent on agriculture.

If the community is to have sufficient food, protecting water sources and irrigation are a must. Agriculture accounts for 80 per cent of employment and 75 per cent of rural household income — yet it provides only 27 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Irrigation is the way to go, as rain-fed agriculture has proved quite unreliable. The most pressing constraint to Tanzania achieving its potential is availability of water. With irrigation, farmers can start profitable businesses, and graduate from subsistence to commercial farming. That way millions of families can escape poverty forever.

Irrigation is the key with which to unlock agricultural productivity. Ready access to water enables farmers to diversify and grow higher value crops such as fruits and vegetables. Unlike farmers who wait for the rains, those using irrigation have more crop cycles and can go to the market when prices are high.

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