Dar takes steps to alleviate poverty

THE Government of Tanzania has reiterated its commitment to directly integrate national development activities by allowing direct foreign investments to take place in three major economic sub-sectors. This move is intended to reduce poverty amongst its people. Speaking on the issue in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday this week, President Jakaya Kikwete vowed that his government would henceforth concentrate more on the agriculture, mining and tourism sectors of the economy. These, he said, are the key areas which have great potentials in growing the national economy, “despite ups and down which the nation has been facing in different periods since Independence” more than fifty years ago! The president was addressing the 17th Annual Research Workshop which was organized by a non-governmental organization, Research on Poverty Alleviation (RePOA). Speaking at the workshop ― whose theme was 'Social Economic Transformation for Poverty Reduction' ― the RePOA executive director, Professor Samuel Wangwe, said “the economic growth experience in Tanzania in the last decade does not reflect poverty reduction. Recent experiences show that it has been possible for several developing countries to transform their economies and reduce poverty levels substantially. Noting that, “for the last 12 years, Tanzania's economy has been growing at an average rate of seven per cent per annum,” President Kikwete said that, despite this relatively high growth rate, “it is amazing that the rate of poverty reduction among the people in the country has been low!” Statistics, for example, indicate that, from 2001 to 2007 ― a period when Tanzania's economy was growing at relatively high rates ― overall household poverty fell by the marginal rate of only two per cent, from 35.7 to 33.6 per cent! The country's agriculture sector is still backward, and needs to be revamped and boosted soonest. About 80 per cent of the population is found in rural Tanzania, and largely depends on agriculture as their economic mainstay. However, they practice subsistence farming, using antediluvian methods and the hand-hoe. Hence, agricultural growth is very low. In the event, the Government “has firmly resolved that any effective socio-economic transformation in Tanzania should be anchored in agriculture,” President Kikwete said, adding that he is “giving agricultural transformation a very high priority.” The conception and institution of the Agricultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP) and the 'Kilimo Kwanza' Initiative by the Government is testimony to this assertion. The two landmark initiatives are designed to deal with the constraints inhibiting agricultural growth, keeping productivity and production low.

President JAKAYA Kikwete in a group photo with staff and Board members of the Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) immediately he had opened a two day seminar on poverty alleviation which was organized by REPOA at White Sands resort Hotel which is located on the fringes of Indian Ocean off the Msasani Peninsular 30 kilometers away on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city. This, Kikwete stressed, “keeps farmers in Tanzania poor, and the rural economy weak.” The president further noted that, given its great potential, agricultural development would take a central role in the country's transformation agenda. It will also help in building capacities for other sectors of the economy to develop. When the sector is transformed, Kikwete explained, many other sectors would benefit... Including agro-processing, manufacturing and service industry. As a result, incomes of many Tanzanians engaged in these other sectors will improve their living standards as well! The other areas that have great potential are mining and tourism, Kikwete stated, noting that these two “are already relatively well developed compared to other sectors of the economy.” In recent years, exploration for natural gas has attracted many investors to Tanzania, and their efforts are already bearing good results, with future prospects looking very promising. The government is expecting more investors in mineral and natural gas exploration, Kikwete said. “The only important factor about mining and gas is about how to integrate these sub-sectors to the rest of the country's economy. It is about to ensure that the benefits from these sub-sectors directly go ordinary citizens... And this is the matter that my government is pre-occupied with at the moment.”

I attended the meeting and managed to interview a renown International Economist, Professor Ibrahim Lipumba who is also the Chairman of the Civic United Front (CUF), an opposition party in Tanzania. With regard to tourism, he said “the government is fully into harness its tourism potential and, if this succeeds, tourism will make a very significant contribution to the socio-economic transformation, as well as accelerate the pace of growth and development of the country. This is the sector that its benefits can easily spread and reach many people across the country.” commenting on the president's remarks, an internationally-acclaimed economist, Professor Ibrahim Lipumba, said “the government's initiatives are well-placed, with targets to bring about success...” But he cautioned that it is crucial that implementation of the Government's envisaged action plan and strategies must be followed in the letter and spirit so as to achieve the desired goals. Professor Lipumba ― who is also the national chairman of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) political party ― said exploration of gas and minerals calls for state-of-the-art technologies, capital and skills, all of which Tanzanians lack. But if the government enters into contracts with private sector investors, Lipumba stated, it must first and foremost, acting with prudence and due diligence, ensure that such contracts will invariably benefit Tanzanians, and should not unduly favour the investors who are out and out to exploit the country's resources. In that regard, he urged the government “to stick to the rules and regulations that guide the nation's policies as a priority set up!” He also called upon the Government to seriously look into the very basic issues of inadequate electricity supplies, transport and communications infrastructure, all of which are essential to economic performance.