Farmers call on govt to lift ban on food export

At least 312 tons of rice in Kilombero may rot or sold at throw-away prices following the government decision to ban their export to avert food shortage in the country.
The stocks belong to Kilombero High Quality Rice Growers Federation – better known in its Kiswahili acronym as Akirigo.

The Akirigo chairman, Mr Athuman Ngongowele said during the weekends that the stocks are piled in their silos - located at Kikwawila, Mang'ula A, Katulukila, Sonjo and Mkula areas – due to the ban.

At the same time, local buyers offer very low prices that will help farmers nothing.

“Locally, we are required to sell at Sh460/kilogram. Any price below Sh600/kilogram will means that we will be unable to pay the loans to the National Microfinance Bank….the government has to decide on this promptly because we are required to start repaying the loans on March 31, this year,” he said.

Last year, the federation got a loan of Sh253 million from NMB that was invested in rice farming.

The goal was to harvest 720 tons of rice but they managed to yield only 312 tons due to what he said to be delays in issuance of the loan.

“If the government cannot allow us export then it has to subsidize for the price so that we can repay the loans and in the end, farmers can get some token benefits from their produce,” he said.

The federation comprise of over 5,200 members who are all farmers in the district.

Two weeks ago, farmers in Rukwa complained that over one million tonnes of food crops harvested in the region may rot due to the ban on food exports.

The region harvested about 1.6 million tons of food crops last year but it (the region) requires only 250,000 for the farmers’ own consumption.
The Rukwa Regional Commissioner Daniel Ole Njoolay told a Network of Smallholder Farmers (Mviwata) in Mbeya recently that the National Food Reserve Agency in Rukwa was capable of buying only 40,000 tonnes per year, but the government had increased the amount to 60,000 tonnes.

However, that still left over 1.3 million tonnes without an assured local market, now when the government has banned export of food crops.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Dr David Mathayo maintained that the government will not change its decision, noting however that it (the government) will look closely into the Rukwa case.