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Tuesday 14 August 2018

TANZANIA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT BANK URGED TO SUPPORT PRIVATE SECTOR

Livestock and Fisheries Minister, Luhaga Mpina.
The Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Luhaga Mpina has called on the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) to invest heavily in the private sector to address capital challenges facing the livestock and fisheries sector. “We need to support the private sector through investment in terms of local financing to fully exploit abundant resources, which are underutilised,” he stressed.

Mr Mpina, who toured the TADB head office in Dar es Salaam at the weekend, said TADB as the sole agricultural bank in the country stood a better chance of transforming the livestock and fisheries sector, whose contribution to the economy was likely to increase.

He said the private sector played a key role in the growth and development of the sector, but lack of capital, inaccessible credit, lack of markets frustrated the growth of livestock and fisheries in the country.

According to the minister, poor financing in livestock farming is a big challenge in the country.

“It does not sound well that Tanzania, which is rich in livestock, still fails to supply its internal market. We rely more on imports than exports,” Mr Mpina noted, calling on TADB to help address the challenges facing livestock and fisheries.

He also asked TADB to seek bankable projects from the private sector with potential opportunities so that they could be revamped and contribute significantly to the economy of the nation.

Earlier, TADB Acting Managing Director Japhet Justine said with the recently launched Agricultural Sector Development Plan II (ASDP-II), focusing on industrialisation, where TADB had also been well prepared to accomplish the goal.

Mr Justine said TADB was part of Tanzania’s success by identifying all prioritised projects that would impact on small-scale farmers.

“As an apex national level bank we are ready to ensure delivery of credit facilities for all bankable projects that will bring about economic development in agriculture,” he noted.

He said TADB would strategically seek to increase interactions with the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries to facilitate timely implementation of all bankable projects in the country.

Tanzania has the third largest cattle population in Africa after Ethiopia and Sudan. About 90 per cent of the livestock population is of the indigenous type known for its low genetic potential in milk and meat production.

The cattle population increases at an average rate of 1.4 per cent and poultry records the impressive growth rate of 9.6 per cent to reach 58 million chickens.

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