Friday, March 23, 2012

Farmers outline factors that hinder their development

Farmers outline factors that hinder their development  
Tuesday, 13 December 2011 21:49

By Frank Aman
The Citizen Correspondent
Dar es Salaam. Lack of direct marketing, contract farming and poor participation of private sectors in agriculture sector have been cited as major challenges that hindering the fight of small farmers against poverty and development of the sector.

Despite various initiatives that have been established by the government such as the Kilimo Kwanza (green revolution) initiative small farmers have not yet realized the potential of the sector.In addition the lack of accountability of local and district councils on managing funds allocated for agriculture initiatives and limited resources are other factors for the poor performance of the agriculture sector.

Speaking during at a tour of the ministry of Agriculture, Food and Corporation yesterday the Vice chairman of the network of small farmers associations in Tanzania (MVIWATA) Veronica Sophu said the strategic plans of the government on agriculture do not help small farmers in the grassroots levels
 “Beneficiaries of agricultural initiatives are rich people who have taken away land from peasants who do benefit from any initiatives,” she said.

She said the government must realise that the development of agriculture should focus on small scale farmers.On his part, the director of policy and planning in the ministry Emmanuel Achayo said that in a bid to improve this sector and fighting against poverty in the country the growth of the sector need to be improved from four per cent to six per cent.

He said that the government intends to increase its budget for agriculture sector from 6 per cent to reach 10 percent of the national budget to in future.“We understand that the agriculture sector faces various challenges the biggest being limited resources. That is why the government plans to extend its allocation so that it may improve the sector,” he said.



from
 http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/business/13-local-business/17924-farmers-outline-factors-that-hinder-their-development.html

Where does Tanzania miss a point in agricultural interventions?

Where does Tanzania miss a point in agricultural interventions?
Thursday, 08 December 2011 12:12
One of the areas of misconception in agriculture in Tanzania is the failure to recognise that agriculture is not a permanent economic activity.
Agriculture is a transition occupation towards more stable occupations. As such good strategies put forward to develop the sector should aim at speeding up the process of people leaving the agricultural sector. Unfortunately most agricultural strategies in Tanzania and many other developing countries seem to aim at sustaining life in agriculture by making life bearable for the farming communities.
Consider a multi billion project providing one or two chicken for a couple of families, or a goat, or construction of a small assembly market, or a small control dam to irrigate 15-20 acres, or just supplying tap water. These cannot bring any meaningful transformation of rural livelihoods. In short most agricultural interventions in Tanzania are not ambitious.
The goals set can be easily achieved without any aggressiveness. I do not think if our partners in the west developed their countries by having such simple goals. The Netherlands wouldn’t have expanded their country by one-third by pushing sea water away. Europe wouldn’t have built the highways and construct water canals we see today. That’s why we benchmark with poor performers in our development plans and analysis.
Learning from success stories, transforming agriculture should not take more than 20 years. For Tanzania it is now going to beyond 50 years. Europe after World War II was facing more or less similar problems Tanzania is facing; food shortage was a common problem. They decided to solve this problem once and for all. 
Within 15 years food shortage became a thing of the past. Another example is Mexico and India. In Mexico the Green Revolution started in 1943. By then Mexico was importing half its wheat; in 1956, the Green Revolution had made Mexico self-sufficient in wheat; by 1964, Mexico was already exporting half a million tons of wheat.
Similarly, in India famine was once accepted as inevitable; in 1961 the country was on the brink of mass famine and began its own Green Revolution programs. By then rice yields were about 2 tons per hectare. By mid-1990s, the yields had risen to six tons per hectare and India became one of the world’s most successful rice producers, and is now a major rice exporter, shipping nearly 4.5 million tons in 2006.
The second oversight is that agricultural interventions are not focussed. They try to address almost all the crops in the country. Fortunately or unfortunately, by virtue of its location (0 - 2,000 m above sea level), Tanzania can produce almost all types of crops under the sun, both temperate and tropical ones and can support livestock of almost all species. Tanzania can produce cabbage, carrot, paprika, coffee, cotton, vanilla, pepper,
cardamom,oranges, maize, wheat, clove, etc. Instead of this being a blessing, it is turning out to be a curse. The interventions by government attempt to address all these, but resources are always meagre to meet that desire. As a result, interventions tend to spread thinly with no significant impact on the ground.
Countries that are located in semi arid areas such Egypt and Israel have managed to transform their agriculture because they focus resources on a few crops that they can produce better using small amount of water at their disposal.
Egypt, depending on River Nile alone, can produce and export surplus wheat and rice. Israel produces and export a variety of fruits by utilising water tapped from Galilee Sea. For that matter, intervention by the government need to be focussed on a few carefully selected crops.

from 
http://thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/31-business-week/17742-where-does-tanzania-miss-a-point-in-agricultural-interventions.html

SAGCOT Invites New Members

SAGCOT Invites New Members

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Friday, 09 December 2011 04:59
sagcot-tanzaniaPrivate companies and farmers’ groups have recently been invited to join the Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) in order to access the center’s financing and technological skills and to take advantage of the experience of the current SAGCOT members.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of SAGCOT, Dustan Mrutu, who recently spoke at a stakeholders workshop for the Agriculture Council of Tanzania (ACT), the SAGCOT center helps to organize the government, private sector, farmers’ associations, development partners and nongovernmental organizations.
“SAGCOT targets smallholder farmers, not big commercial farmers,” said Mr. Mrutu, “it’s not business as usual at the center because we are doing things differently.”
Mr. Mrutu went on to emphasize that, while the ultimate goal will be to cover the whole country, the center is currently targeting the bread basket regions of the southern highlands based on the solid infrastructure that is already in place within the region.
“Later on we will have Mtwara corridor, central corridor covering Dodoma and Singida regions until the whole country is covered,” explained Mr. Mrutu.
The Chief Executive Officer further explained that the goal of this initiative is to improve the overall productivity of the Tanzania agriculture sector as well as the agro-processing and the manufacturing of finished goods from agriculture commodities.
According to Salum Shamte, who currently serves as both SAGCOT Board Chairman and ACT Chairman, the numerous taxes that farmers pay to both the local and central government are sentencing rural farmers to complete poverty.
“We as farmers pay at least 17 different taxes which are too much by any standard,” explained Mr. Shamte.
Mr. Shamte went on to argue that agriculture is suffering from inflated interest rates charged by banks on loans, poor extension services and a hostile tax regime, the sector constitutes a single largest family of private investors in the country’s economy.
“The private sector has a key role to play in the country’s economy and the largest single contributor to the GDP (gross domestic product) is agriculture which has a big number of private farmers,” he pointed out.
SAGCOT is currently responsible for the implementation of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), a program that is backed by a World Bank hosted Trust Fund in an effort to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty through agriculture.
In a joint effort by African governments through CAADP funding, public investment in agriculture will be increased by a minimum of 10 percent of their respective national budgets and agricultural productivity will be increased by at least 6 percent per annum.
The Tanzania agriculture sector contributes to approximately 30 percent of the country’s GDP, more that 40 percent of the foreign currency earning and employs more than 70 percent of rural farmers in addition to meeting almost 100 percent of the food needs of the country’s estimated 44 million people.

from
http://www.tanzaniainvest.com/tanzania-agriculture/tanzania-agriculture-news/438-sagcot-invites-new-members

Sunday, March 11, 2012


PLANS ARE GOD’S IDEAS
REFERENCES
Ø PROVERB 16:1-3
Ø PROVERB 16:9
Ø PROVERB 12:5
Ø PROVERB 19:21
Ø PROVERB 20:28
Ø JEREMIAH 29:11,12
WHY GOD GAVE ADAM A GARDEN AND NOT A FOREST?
Ø ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE
Ø PLAN YOUR LIFE
WHY DO WE NEED TO PLAN?
YOUR VALUE TO LIFE
1.    YOU WERE BORN TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
2.    YOU’RE GOD’S RESPONSE TO A NEED HE CREATED
3.    YOU’RE THE ANSWER TO A QUESTION GOD KNEW WOULD BE RAISED IN THIS GENERATION

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

DON’T COMPLAIN DO SOMETHING

DON’T COMPLAIN DO SOMETHING

 Sometimes what you count as a crisis is just a situation that you don’t like.
 The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them”
- George Bernard Shaw 
Make the most of the crisis you face and don’t wait for someone to do something. If you can see it you can deal with it. Do not just complain about the   situation look for the solutions.  I attended the discussion of Tanzania agriculture development since independence November 2011 held at Sokoine University of Agriculture and heard many complains to the government. I told my friend Antony Kapola about the situation and ended up telling him that “it is a sin to be told about the problem and not think of the solution”.  We concluded that whatever the situation we don’t like in our nation we must find the way to do it and stop being in the crowd who always complain and keep doing nothing expecting that changes will happen one day.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”
Edmund Burke
A man of change will always say “I will do something” in the midst of the crisis. Being still and wishing makes no one great.   When Israelites were crossing the desert to Canaan, every time they faced a crisis those who complained made themselves prone to death. But Mosses did something every time the crises rise.   What a wonderful mind, he seeks for direction what to do by asking God how. Put your mind to work during your difficult situation, settle down and think what to do. Don’t look for someone to blame. Don’t use your feelings and stop your brain. Don’t welcome fear in the battle field. Believe that one with God is majority. Remove the sense of loneliness out of your mind; you have all you need to conquer your enemies. J. Edgar Roberts insisted
Every human mind is a great slumbering power until awakened by a keen desire and a definite resolution to do
When you say I can’t, you mind will switch to what I call “I CANTISM MODE”    from there is your destruction starts. It’s like your mind has obey your instructions to switch ON or OFF to that mode.
A successful man will never see the day that doesn’t bring a fresh quota of problems, and the mark of success is to deal with them effectively
Lauris Norstad 


from the book SWEET CRISES

                   by SHEMEJI MELAYEKI

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Challenges and what to do with them


 Challenges and what to do with them

What do you do when you face a challenge in your life?

 Every person in life has faced a difficult situation one time. Others are in them right now and others are about to get in one now. You can hear some people giving testimonies on how the conquered when they faced such a situation, the winning tactics, the lesson they have learned and the vivid output of that crisis. It may be through education, social life, marriage, business, politics, or any other area of life. If you can trace among many people they really don’t know what to do after them or when the situation is prevailing. Relationships have broken various times and not know why, businesses have collapsed and not know why, and governments failed and not know why. I used to read the book of Exodus in the Bible and asked the question “why did it take many years for the Israelites to cross that desert?” I don’t believe that God was punishing them but whatever God intended for them to learn He did not allow them to go forward until they grasped that idea. God was killing every slavery nature from Egypt so that they can enjoy the promise land like free people and not like slaves. My dear friend, “until you learn something from a crisis you’re facing now you will remain in it forever or die along the way to your bright future”. Stop your deadly complains and grasp the important lessons found in your passing troubles. Yes, they are passing and they won’t pass until you harvest its fruits and dig out the trees of pains from roots.   
Oswald Avery gave and interesting statement “whenever you fall pick up something” how many times have you got a fall and not pick anything important? I believe that nothing happens for nothing, whether you see it or not will always be there. 
The fact is that, no one can avoid a crisis in life. May be if there is no sense of growth in your life. John Mason wrote “Paths without obstacles don’t lead to anywhere important”. As long as you’re planning to have a fruitful life, you can’t escape the obstacles and crises.
The safest road to hell is a gradual one-the gentle slope, soft under foot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without sign posts
C. S. Lewis
 Dr. David O. Oyedepo wrote in his book Winning the War against Povertychallenges line up the path of champions”. You can’t be a champ in boxing until you fought in the ring and win.  So, the problem for many people is what to do when they face challenges.  Do you quit? Do you complain?

HAVE A POSITIVE MINDSET WHEN YOU FACE A CRISIS

How do you take a crisis? A curse? Have you ever heard some people saying “why me? This queue of problems I’m tired of this life, God has forsaken me” and so many other wrong sentences. This is just expression of pains that will never let you see the truth about your crises.
When we know that everything has two faces, let us look at the bright side only
Mahatma Gandhi
  One day I thought how to get out of problem that captured me that I can’t do my own stuffs well. I started to blame everything around me then I quoted myself saying “only when you blame you become lame” and “the greatest opportunity of the person who is complaining in the wilderness is death” I stopped the negatives thoughts and start to think how to enjoy. I usually ask myself how can i successfully harness it, how can I get a lesson it carries. At last I learned that I can only become harder when I face hardship, the more you face hardship and learn from them HARDSHIP will no longer be your problem.
Norman Vincent Peale is right when he said “every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don’t have any problems, you don’t get any seeds”.
John Mason wrote “difficulty give birth to opportunity” and Lord Kelvin said “when you’re to face with a difficulty, you’re up against a discovery”
  Do you know why eagles enjoy the storms while all other birds hide in leaves and branches of the trees or run to their nests? An eagle uses the raging storm’s wind to lift it higher. This gives an eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. That’s why an eagle is a king of birds.  We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers relish challenges and use them profitably.
Dr. Myles Munroe
When you’re sensitive to the difficulty situation in life in a positive way, you can see yourself cultivating a very strong character that will be useful in your future. I remain optimistic that crises are the sources of many discoveries. You can use them to discover your hidden potentials. SO CRISES ARE SWEET;
The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it
John Ruskin

Most of the significant things done in the world were done by persons who were either too busy or too sick! There are very few ideal and leisurely settings for the discipline of growth
-Robert Thornton Henderson
Without grains of gritty irritating sands, there would be no pearls of great price
Unknown
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in the moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at the times of challenges and controversy
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity
Sir Winston Churchill
from the book SWEET CRISES
                  by SHEMEJI MELAYEKI

Friday, February 10, 2012

UNIVERSITY: A PLACE WHERE OPTIMISM IS BURRIED


UNIVERSITY: A PLACE WHERE OPTIMISM IS BURRIED

M
any get in the universities believing that they will come with knowledge that will make them fight in life very cheaply.  Based on my own research, I have found that many universities are similar to job seeking seminars and not intended to teach and prepare the students to become what they can be in life to bring changes. Very few discover their course of life and many end up becoming job seekers. If you don’t believe this, prepare two seminars; one based on Job Seeking Techniques plus calling their prospective employers and the other let it be based on entrepreneurship plus calling some well known entrepreneurs in the region. Observe the response- many will attend Job Seeking Techniques seminar and few will attend entrepreneurship seminar.  I have never been motivated by JST seminars and I suggest that it should not be given a priority. Deployment is better than employment. I also suggest that if you are employed grow in the manner that you will soon create employment and do not be an employee forever. Getting the job should not be the end of growth. If you are not studying to be employment, you are increasing your knowledge and understanding about various issue, situations and activities so that you can do them better. Do not try to fit in the needs of someone (employer) but the needs of the world. I’m challenging university graduates that, they should help their nations to create employment opportunities and stop becoming the burden to their government.

Thursday, February 9, 2012




YOU'RE TOO BIG TO ACCEPT FAILURE

THIS IS A PART OF THE BOOK I'M WRTING
NAME: TRIANGULAR SUCCESS PRINCIPLE (in progress)
AUTHOR: SHEMEJI MELAYEKI



A DISEASE OF SELFISHNESS

Selfishness has made many people prone to poverty. The dangerous effect to selfish people is losing ability to expand. If you cannot think of someone else, you’re just making yourself too little. You think of what of what is sufficient to you. See what many great men were doing. They discovered a lot of things when they were thinking on how to solve the problems that were facing human race and not their lives alone. Some had freedom and they fought for the freedom of other men, they had food but they worked hard to feed other men and many other things were many on behalf of others. They produced things which weren’t for their own consumption. The best way to think big is through carrying others in your mind. You can’t think small.
One day I heard Dr. Myles Munroe teaching and he said “the vision that intend to benefit you alone is not from God” vision should not be judged by the profit it profit it bring but the impact it generate.  We do have rains because clouds are not selfish. Don’t be too conscious of yourself.
The core for sin is I no matter how you spell it
Ed Cole
You’ll always have everything in life that you want if you’ll help enough other people get what they want”
Zig Ziglar
True leadership always begin with servanthood, while selfishness always ends in self destruction
John Mason
When a man is wrapped in himself, he makes a pretty small package
John Ruskin
The way to the throne is through the servant quarters
An old saying
he man who lives for himself is a failure, even if he gains much wealth, power or position he is a failure”
Norman Vincent Peale
“But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:”
Mathew 20:26, 27

 “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.”
Mathew 23:11

Don’t think too much of yourself. Try to cultivate the habit of thinking of others; this will reward you. Selfishness always brings its own revenge

Charles Elliot
The bigger a man’s head gets, the easier it is to fill his shoes
Henry Courtney
The greatest magnifying glasses in the world are man’s own eyes when they look upon his own person
Alexander Pope
Don’t miss the plan of God by self-consumption
Rick Renner
The person who is deeply in love with oneself should get a divorce
John Mason
Even postage stamps becomes useless when they get stuck to themselves”
John Mason