PM inspects food reserves in Dodoma

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda on Thursday this week inspected food reserves which are located at Kizota area on the outskirts of Dodoma town as part of his implementation of a promise he issued two weeks ago that, the government is intending to construct large food reserves in six regions. A statement issued by Prime Minister’s Office yesterday in Dar es Salaam said that, the construction of food reserves in these regions would be facilitated by help of a loan to be given by the government of Poland through their investor effectively starting as from January next year. Speaking with regional leaders and officials from National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) who accompanied him in his tour, the PM said that, the government is intending to construct big food reserves known as SILOS each one would accommodate 100,000 tones of cereals. “Once we get larger food reserves enough to accommodate 100,000 tones of cereals, we are sure of taking food reserve from the neighbouring regions of Singida, Tabora and Manyara”, the Premier said. The statement noted that, in his tour, the PM was accompanied by Witold Karczewski , a Poland national who owns a large industry which packs cereal foodstuffs which Premier Pinda visited when he toured the country in October 24 this year. The investor Karczewski also owns the industry which manufactures raw materials used for the construction of SILOS. Delivering a report to the Prime Minister, the Central Zone Director for NFRA Ruwaichi Mambali said that, the Kizota centre is equipped with food reserves which are able to accommodate 30,000 tones in three food reserves which each one accommodates 10,000 tones of cereals. On his part, an investor from Poland Karczewski wanted to know the infrastructure which is there at6 Kizota including the distance how is it linked with railways or road, he also was eager to know the vastness of the area in terms of kilometers. He however stressed that, if he could get the site map on time, he would send his experts next year to look at the possibility of starting the construction work earlier enough once they accomplish with contractual agreements with him. 

Tanzania's Prime Minmister Mizengo Pinda

Two weeks ago, on his arrival in the country, the Prime Minister made it clear in a press conference that, he had gone to Poland to seek for a strategic investor and a kind of a loan system that would guarantee favourable conditions for repayments to enable the construction of food reserves on which to keep cereals in the country. He said the government has targeted six regions for the start which includes Ruvuma, Njombe and Iringa where there is abundant production of maize crops. Other places the premier noted is along the lake zones in regions which are faced with food scarcity. He further clarified that, the government is strategizing the construction of food reserves in Dodoma region being the centre of the country to serve as a strategic point for other regions surrounding it. “The government aim is to get food reserves which are able to accommodate from 700 tones of cereals to 1,000,000 tones”, the PM said adding that, the government has proposed to have larger food reserves which looks like SILOS because these facilities are equipped with the modern technological equipments that identifies the number of cereals kept inside. He said this year’s production of cereals in the country has recorded 1.5 million tones, out of which 800,000 is rice compared to the surplus of 300,000 tones which was recorded last year. In view of this, however the PM said that, the government is facing a challenge of getting reliable markets for the produced cereals although the government had largely became so independent for the  NFRA as a prime purchaser and yet it has the ability to accommodate only 240,000 tones per year.