Tanzânia: Irrigation farming gets a boost
FÓRUM AGRICULTURA IRRIGADA
By The Citizen Reporter
Dar
es Salaam. Irrigation farming in the country has received a boost in
the form of Sh4 billion which has been set aside by the Private
Agricultural Sector Support Trust (PASS Trust) to facilitate lease
financing this year.
The money will specifically target projects which have been dormant for a long time or have not received enough funds.
Information
released over the weekend in Dar es Salaam said from next month PASS
Trust will dish out Sh400 million for the Lower Moshi Irrigation Scheme
for purchasing tractors and combine harvesters.
The PASS Trust chairman of the board of trustees, Prof Andrew Temu, told journalists over the weekend in the city that the second phase of the project will see Sh800 million allocated to the project for purchasing eight tractors and six combine harvesters for the project.
“This is lease financing where after repaying the loan all machines become the property of farmers,” he said. He explained that the arrangement will also focus on helping small scale farmers who will use the tractors under an arrangement called Tractor Hiring Scheme.
He said after the
Northern zone, they will turn to other areas such as irrigation schemes
of Dakawa in Morogoro Region, Madibira in Iringa Region and those in
other regions.
He said PASS has started working with other community
financial institutions such as the Kilimanjaro Community Bank Ltd, Pride
and others in Arusha to serve many small farmers.
Other banks
working with PASS are CRDB Bank, Exim Bank, National Microfinance Bank
(NMB), Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB) and National Bank of Commerce
(NBC).
He said PASS Trust supports the government’s Southern
Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) and added that this
initiative needs a lot of financing to succeed.
For his part, the
managing director of PASS Trust, Mr Iddy Lujina, said they have already
finished preparing an office in Moshi and plan to open two others at
Mtwara and Kigoma later this year so as to serve the whole country. PASS
Trust also has offices in Mwanza, Moshi, Morogoro, Dar es Salaam and
Mbeya regions.
In 2011 PASS facilitated about 11,000 farmers to access loans amounting to Sh22 billion from commercial banks through its business development services and credit guarantees.
Fonte: http://thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/29544-irrigation-farming-gets-a-boost
