United Republic of Tanzania
Statement by the Deputy Governor H.E. Prof. Dr. Costa R. Mahalu at the 27th Session of the Governing Council

Chairperson,
IFAD President,
Distinguished Governors,
Honourable Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your Excellencies,

On behalf of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, I wish to thank you for availing me this opportunity to address the 27th IFAD Governing Council. This is yet another opportunity for my country to participate in the shared efforts by IFAD member countries in the fight against food insecurity, hunger, malnutrition, disease and poverty. I would also like to salute H.E. Blasie Compaore, the President of Burkina Faso for so ably portraying Africa’s aspirations to fight rural poverty and the confidence he showed in the work of IFAD.

Chairperson,

On behalf of my country, I would like to express our satisfaction with IFAD, do express our congratulations for the excellent work it is doing in Tanzania. Since its establishment, IFAD has always worked closely with the Tanzania in the struggle to rid our country of three archenemies, namely; poverty, ignorance and disease. IFAD continues to play a critical and constructive role in supporting various projects as we strive to attain the Millennium Development Goals and the targets set out in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

Chairperson,

This session of the Council is taking place at a time when the African Union is planning a meeting of the Heads of States and Governments to discuss ways and means through which we can bring about integrated and Sustainable Development in Africa, with a major focus on Agriculture and Water. The meeting, to be held soon, is a clear indication of various and serious attempts by our Governments to pull our countries out of the current situation, where a large proportion of our population is afflicted by poverty, hunger, food insecurity and related problems.

This session is also taking place when many countries in Africa, including Tanzania, are faced with food shortages. In the recent meeting of SADC Ministers of Agriculture held in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania the Ministers noted this problem and stressed that poverty reduction and food security strategies should, inter alia, include measures to increase agriculture production, productivity and food availability. The Ministers expressed their countries commitment to promote equal access for men and women, as well as child-headed households to land, credit, technology and other key agricultural inputs. The Ministers in particular, reaffirmed the need to support empowerment of women recognizing and valuing their vital role in agriculture and food security.

Chairperson,

The causes for food insecurity vary from one country to another. Some of the reasons behind this variance include bad weather, limited use of improved modern technologies, inadequate infrastructure and weak access to financial services. Other reasons include inadequate research and weak agricultural information delivery capacity, civil strife, inappropriate policies and weak institutions which have failed to promote the developmental transformation, we are envisaging. Some of these problems are man made and others are beyond human control. However, despite the existence of these problems, one thing is clear, that is, given the existing political will and available resources in the world, these problems can be surmounted and prosperity attained. We pray for the international community to see the urgency of mobilising these resources and taking the required action to attain this noble cause.

Tanzania has made substantial progress in the past eight years, under the leadership of H.E. President Benjamin William Mkapa, in laying the foundation for fighting poverty and its causes. Some of the significant steps taken include; macroeconomic reforms, structural reforms, liberalization of markets of goods and services, establishment of various incentives to attract investments in various sector of our economy and strengthening peace and political stability in order to bring about sustained growth and poverty reduction. In addition, the Government has launched various strategies and programmes aimed at stimulating rapid growth of the economy. These include the Rural Development Strategy, Agricultural Sector Development Strategy, Poverty Reduction Strategy and the Agricultural Sector Development Programme, to mention but a few.

Chairperson,

We express our appreciation to IFAD for being practically, on the fore front in supporting these strategies and programmes. To give not a few example, IFAD is currently supporting the Farmers Participatory Irrigation Development Programme, Kagera Agricultural and Development Management Project, Agriculture Marketing Systems Development Programme and the Rural Financial Services Programme. IFAD is also on the formulation board working with other partners (the World Bank, Ireland) to finance a significant part of the Agricultural Technology, Information and Extension Services Programme. We are once again very grateful to IFAD for the initiatives and its active participation in the various projects currently being undertaken in Tanzania.

Chairperson,

Tanzania has made great strides in; developing rural infrastructure and rural markets, promoting agricultural investment, supporting the private sector and establishing conducive policies and legal frameworks for local and foreign investors in the agricultural sector and other sectors. However, despite the Government’s will, commitment and efforts, the resource requirement is still beyond the local financial capacity.

Chairperson,

The importance of agriculture in economic growth and poverty reduction in Tanzania makes it a priority for investment and development. Given the fact that about 63 per cent of our population depends on agriculture and agriculture related activities for its livelihood, any intervention to bring about a higher and sustainable economic growth and improvement in living standards, need to focus on the sector. In recognition of this fact, we urge all our development partners to work with us in:

(i) Designing and restructuring the nature, scope and extent of agricultural support systems such as agricultural and livestock extension, research, training, regulations, crop protection, information and farmers’ organization.

(ii) Construction of necessary rural infrastructure such as roads, markets, market information systems and development of agro-processing.

(iii) Exploiting and expanding small cost-effective water control and management systems.

(iv) Developing the livestock sector particularly improving production, processing and marketing of milk, meat and other by products, and

(v) Supporting community driven health, sanitation and nutrition programme in order to lessen the incidences and mitigating impacts of such diseases as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and water borne diseases.

Chairperson,

Despite the above efforts, the question of market access both locally and internationally cannot be overemphasized. Again, the SADC Ministers in the just ended preparatory meeting for the Summit in May, reaffirmed the need for the region to harmonise the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures in accordance with international standards to facilitate trade in agricultural products and appealed to trading partners not to use SPS measures as barriers to trade. Ministers noted with concern that access to Developed Countries’ markets for agricultural products originating from the region remains limited due to protectionism and called upon the WTO to accelerate liberalization of trade in agriculture.

Chairperson,

We have examined the proposed programme of work and budget for 2004, and noted that IFAD is determined to perpetuate its support in the struggle for rural development and poverty reduction. Likewise, we understand that to implement such a plan, enough resources are necessary: Tanzania therefore supports IFAD’s efforts to capture resource opportunities from donors. In this regard, we endorse the proposed flexibility to establish multi-donor trust funds.

Chairperson,

Let me conclude by assuring you of our support and continued cooperation and once again I thank you for availing me this opportunity to address this Governing Council.

Thank you.