The government of Tanzania has announced plans to expand exportation of crops to India. Minister for Agriculture, Mr Hussein Bashe said they have already prepared and dispatched to India special information on seasonality and production volume of all crops that the country is exporting to India.
The crops under the category in question include pigeon pea, green gram, sesame and avocado, among others. According to Mr Bashe, the development which surfaced due to his special audience with the Indian High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Binaya Srikanta Pradhan aims to bolster smooth bilateral trade relations between the two countries.
“I had a positive audience with High Commissioner Pradhan through which, the agriculture minister of India requested me to send him information over seasonality and our production capacity towards the crops that we export to India so that he can stand a better side to coordinate professional bilateral trade relations with Tanzania,” he said.
Trade relations
“The government had so far entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India for the exportation of all crops that Tanzania is exporting to India. The general focus is to ensure that our trade relations with India remain stable, while enabling local farmers and exporters of the relevant crops to benefit accordingly,” he added.
To ensure the farmers are benefiting from the lucrative crop market in India, the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) has embarked on a special strategy to escalate cultivation of all crops that Tanzania is exporting to India. National Coordinator of Grain Legume research at TARI, Mr Meshack Makenge informed that the move incorporates production of improved seed varieties and training towards the farmers.
“To start with, we have already planted more than ten hectares of seed varieties for pigeon pea at our Moratoria-based Ilonga Centre in order to supply the farmers with enough seeds. Basically, TARI is producing early generation seeds, breeder, pre basic and basic pigeon pea seeds,” stated Makeng.
