Poland is looking to invest in Tanzania’s sector through irrigation farming. The investments will thus capitalize on irrigation farming with a view to steering the economic outlook of the East African nation. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 25% of Tanzania’s GDP emanates from agriculture.
As such, the sector plays a huge factor in the country’s economy. It not only feeds the country’s citizens, but is also a source of livelihood to a higher percentage of the nation’s population. Furthermore, the sector has the potential to be a crucial food hub in the East African region. However, setbacks such as food insecurity act as a hindrance to the achievement of the same.
Poland has highly benefitted from irrigation farming, a scheme that has transformed the face of agriculture in the country. The government has since invested in large-scale irrigation farming to elevate the sector’s competitiveness and harvest more from the industry. The European country has also offered support to Tanzania’s agriculture and water sectors in funds and expertise.
Polish Ambassador to Tanzania Mr. Krzysztof Buzalski highlighted that cooperation and investments in such areas as irrigation must involve several actors representing the private sector, research and government. This, he said, is in addition to there being careful consideration in implementation.
Poland and Tanzania have enjoyed long and healthy bilateral relations that cut across agriculture to trade, investment, water supply and education. Last year, Poland’s foreign investment in Tanzania had reached US $110m. This is according to the Deputy Director at the Department of Economic Cooperation in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Konrad Pawlik.
According to NIC National Irrigation Master Plan (NIMP, 2002), Tanzania has at least 29.4m ha suitable for irrigation. Out of the potential area only 475, 052 ha under irrigation has been developed.
