Govt unveils plans to expand NFRA storage capacity

  DODOMA: THE government has outlined several projects to be implemented in the 2025/2026 financial year to boost storage capacity of the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), as part of efforts to attain its target of storing 3 million tonnes of food by 2030. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, by April this year, the …

 

DODOMA: THE government has outlined several projects to be implemented in the 2025/2026 financial year to boost storage capacity of the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), as part of efforts to attain its target of storing 3 million tonnes of food by 2030.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, by April this year, the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) had stored 776,000 tonnes of food, following the purchase of 444,440.95 tonnes.

Presenting a 1.2 tri/- budget estimates for the Ministry of Agriculture, Minister Hussein Bashe said that in the upcoming financial year, the government will prioritise investments in food reserve infrastructure to ensure national food security and strengthen nutrition across the country. Currently food self -sufficiency stands at 128 per cent.

The minister stated that, to enhance food storage capacity, the ministry, through the NFRA, will complete the construction of food reserve infrastructure with a total storage capacity of 165,000 tonnes, as part of a project aimed at expanding the national cereal reserve. The government had already secured contractor for the work.

He added that NFRA will also begin construction of storage facility with a total capacity of 300,000 tonnes in Songea, Makambako, Songwe, Shinyanga, and Dodoma zones.

“The ministry will renovate 46 warehouses in the Shinyanga, Geita, Kigoma, Tabora, Rukwa, Katavi, Mwanza, Manyara and Songwe regions, and purchase equipment for 28 warehouses that have already been constructed in the Ruvuma region with storage capacity of 1000 tonnes each,” he said.

Mr Bashe also said that the contractor for the construction of 10 warehouses with a total storage capacity of 95,000 tonnes has been handed over the sites to begin the work in the regions of Morogoro (3 warehouses), Tabora (1 warehouse), Shinyanga (1 warehouse), Rukwa (3 warehouses), Manyara (1 warehouse), and Dodoma (1 warehouse).

“Once completed, these projects will increase NFRA’s storage capacity to 1,036,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to 34.53 per cent of the target to store 3,000,000 tonnes by 2030,” he said.

Mr Bashe further said that Cereal and Other Produce Board (CPB) will start constructing agricultural produce storage facilities with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes in the Ruvuma region.

The minister said that to strengthen food security in the country, his docket, through NFRA, will purchase 1,140,000 tonnes of cereals in the 2025/2026 financial year, adding that NFRA will continue to sell food both domestically and internationally, including introducing a Food Security Bond to increase its operational capacity.

Meanwhile, Minister Bashe said that in the 2025/2026 financial year, the ministry will continue to implement the Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Action Plan (NSAAP) to address nutrition-related challenges, including stunting, wasting and iron deficiency anemia.

As part of the plan, Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) will produce and distribute 3,290,000 vine cuttings of nutrient-rich (biofortified) sweet potatoes to the regions of Mwanza, Geita, Tabora, Katavi, Kigoma, Shinyanga, Simiyu, Kagera and Mara.

In addition, TARI will also continue to provide training on good agricultural practices to 2,500 lead farmers and 100 sweet potato seed producers in the local government authorities of Bukombe, Geita, Misungwi, Misenyi, and Bukoba.

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To ensure the proper use of agricultural inputs by farmers, Mr Bashe said his docket will continue conducting soil health assessments and developing digital maps that indicate the status of soil health, along with recommendations for appropriate use of agricultural inputs in all designated farming areas at the village level.

He said the ministry will procure and distribute 43 soil scanners for soil health testing. It will also construct three (3) offices for agricultural land use planning and management in the Lake Zone (Mwanza), Eastern Zone (Morogoro) and Southern Highlands Zone (Mbeya) to bring services closer to farmers and purchase a mobile soil laboratory van to support soil health testing.