SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY, HONOURABLE
CHARLES N. KEENJA (MP.), DURING THE OPENING OF THE WATER MANAGEMENT AND
IRRIGATION PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION WORKSHOP IN EASTERN AND SOURTHERN AFRICA,
HELD IN MWANZA, TANZANIA, ON 22ND MARCH , 2004
Regional Commissioner of Mwanza Regio=
n,
Hon. Daniel Ole Njoolay,
The Permanent Secretary of the Minist=
ry of
Agriculture & Food Security, Mr. Wilfred Ngirwa,
Representatives from; IFAD, World Ban=
k,
JICA, FAO, ADB, WFP, UN=
OPS,
International Water Management Institute, SAFIRE, World Vision and ApproTEC=
,
Invited guests,
Workshop Participants,<=
/o:p>
Ladies and Gentlemen.
1. I
wish to thank the organizers of this workshop for inviting me to officiate =
at
the opening of this Workshop on Water Management and Irrigation Project
Implementation. IFAD has alwa=
ys
been our partner in agricultural development in this country and I consider=
it
a great privilege and honour to be with you this morning.
2. Mr.
Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you t=
o Tanzania and
specifically to Mwanza. For t=
hose
who are visiting Mwanza for the first time, I am sure that you will find the
city quite scenic due to its hills and more so because of Lake
Victoria. You wi=
ll
also find the people friendly and hospitable. Within the usual limits of human n=
ature,
Mwanza is a peaceful and safe City and I invite you to feel at home here. I am not sure what motivated the
organizers to choose Mwanza for the Workshop. I suspect that the abundance of fi=
sh
from Lake Victoria may have been one of =
the
factors.
3. =
Mr.
Chairman, we are told that there are 842 million people who do not get
enough food in the world and that most of these people live in the so called
developing countries. Our reg=
ion is
the worst affected in the World. In
Tanzania=
,
it is estimated that about 40% of our people do not get enough food either
because they do not produce enough food or because they cannot afford to buy
enough food. The International
Community recognizes this problem and it has set itself the goal of reducing
hunger by 50% by 2015. This i=
s one
of the millennium goals and it recognizes access
to food as a human right.
4. =
&nb=
sp; =
Mr.
Chairman, our region is often affected by food shortages due to adverse
changes of weather but also due to the use of poor production
technologies. Tanzania
produces most of the food consumed by its people, with the exception of whe=
at
and sugar but in most years, we have pockets of food shortages in most regi=
ons
of the country. With improved
agricultural methods, Tanzania
could feed her people adequately and produce substantial surpluses for expo=
rt
to countries in our region and even to more distant countries.
5. =
&nb=
sp; =
The World Community realizes that action must be
taken to reduce hunger and poverty.
The African Union has formulated the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Programme (CAADP) under NEPAD and the Heads of State of the Afr=
ican
Union member countries pledged to set aside at least 10% of their government
budgets for investment in agriculture.&nbs=
p;
This decision is an important milestone in our efforts to achieve
increased agricultural production so as to achieve the goals of enhanced fo=
od
security and poverty reduction. The
Government of Tanzania, on its part, has formulated the Agricultural Sector=
Development
Strategy (ASDS) and district based programmes are being developed to implem=
ent
it. The East African Communit=
y has
also developed an agricultural development strategy while SADC has done the
same under the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Programme (RISDP).=
6. =
&nb=
sp; =
Mr.
Chairman, all the agricultural development strategies which have been
formulated at the continental, regional and national levels recognize the
importance of irrigation as a means of checking the vagaries of weather and
thus reducing incidences of food shortages and famines. It is a recognized fact that with
irrigation, the same piece of land can be planted up to three times a year =
and
productivity with irrigation is three times higher than with rainfed
agriculture. This means that =
with
irrigation production can be increased up to nine times on the same piece of
land per year.
7. =
&nb=
sp; =
Mr.
Chairman, if I may be allowed to refer to Tanzania again, we are in the
process of preparing an Irrigation Master Plan with the collaboration of JI=
CA. Studies have shown that we have 29.4
million hactres which have various irrigation development potentials: 2.3 million hactres have high irri=
gation
potential while 4.8 million hactres have medium potential. An inventory of 1428 irrigation sc=
hemes
has been prepared and the projects have been shown to be technically feasib=
le
and they will be included in the District Agricultural Development
Programmes. The problem with =
most
irrigation schemes is that they are extremely expensive to the extent of be=
ing
unaffordable. Irrigation engi=
neers
must accept the challenge of developing low cost irrigation schemes which c=
an
be implemented by the farmers themselves with little assistance from outside
their communities.
8. =
The International Fund for Agricultural Develop=
ment
(IFAD) has shown the way in the project which they support – most of =
them
involve their beneficiaries all the way from the planning stage to
implementation and, in most cases, they are affordable and sustainable. I commend IFAD for the good work w=
hich
they are doing and thus for their contribution of enhanced food security and
poverty reduction. What is ne=
eded
is to expand the use of these initiatives to cover bigger parts of the coun=
try
and to reach a greater proportion of the population.
9. =
Mr. Ch=
airman,
there is no question that water is the key factor to increased agricult=
ural
production. During the second=
Extra
Ordinary Summit of the Africa Union held from 26th – 27th
February, 2004 in Sirte, Libya, it was observed that this region is endowed
with abundant fresh water resources in underground aquifers, rivers and lak=
es
but very little has been done to exploit them. I think it is important to devise =
ways
in which we can exploit these resources for the benefit of our countries. We need to think of cost effective=
ways
of doing this.
10. =
Mr.
Chairman, with the exception of very
few countries, most countries in our region get some rainfall every year
but most of the rain water is allowed to run off to the oceans or into inla=
nd
water bodies. In countries wh=
ere we
have larger scale farmers, particularly in =
South
Africa and Zimbabwe, one sees a large nu=
mber
of small dams which are used to stop rain water from running off to the oce=
an
or into lakes, a process of water harvesting which retains the water for us=
e in
irrigation.
11. In Tanzania we have many perenni=
al
rivers and even in the most arid parts of the country they get at least 500=
mm
of rainfall per year. What we=
need
are simple projects which divert water from rivers to farmland and construc=
tion
of dams of various sizes which can be used to harvest rainwater during the
rainy season which can then be used for irrigation, livestock and by man du=
ring
the dry season.
12. The use of wind and solar en=
ergy
in irrigation so as to reduce costs should be introduced and expanded. In Tanzania electricity is
prohibitively expensive and fossil oils are not cheaper. What we need are more affordable s=
ources
of energy for pumping water from freshwater lakes, rivers, dams and wells a=
nd
we are endowed with a lot of sunshine and wind throughout the year. Where
possible, water should be moved by gravity from high ground to farmers on l=
ower
ground and this is possible in at least ten out of our twenty one regions -=
again
greatly reducing irrigation costs.
13. Whatever method of getting w=
ater
is used, irrigation must make a greater contribution in improving food secu=
rity
at the family and national levels and in reducing poverty. Our irrigation engineers must be m=
ore
innovative in designing low cost irrigation projects which can be construct=
ed
by the people using locally available materials as much as possible. The people should also be taught h=
ow to
use water efficiently and in environmentally friendly manner as well as how=
to
maintain their irrigation infrastructure.&=
nbsp;
I am sure that there is a lot which we can do by using such resource=
s as
the state can allocate in partnership with beneficiaries.
14. In Mid-February this year,
Ministers of Agriculture and Natural Resources from SADC Countries met at <=
st1:City
w:st=3D"on">Dar es Salaam to =
prepare
a summit of Heads of State which will be convened in mid-May. In their communiqué, the
Ministers recommended that urgent steps should be taken to ensure food secu=
rity
in the region. The Ministers
recognized the important role which irrigation and proper management of the
water resource can make in reaching that goal. Enough has been said about the
irrigation potential available and the importance of irrigation in enhancing
food security and reducing poverty in Africa
remains enormous. What is nee=
ded
now is urgent action.
15. =
Mr. Chairman, the populations of all our countries are growing at
high rates and thus exert pressure on the land. In most countries, deforestation is
going on at an alarming rate and Tanzania is a case in point.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Many streams have dried up and des=
ertification
is evident in many parts of our countries.=
Steps need to be taken urgently to reverse this trend because it aff=
ects
availability of water as well as rainfall.
16. Mr. Chairman, in conclusion I wou=
ld
like to emphasize the fact that at present our region has abundant water
resources which we can use for irrigation and for livestock and human use.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We need to prepare affordable plan=
s for
the expansion of the areas under irrigated agriculture so as to enhance food
security in the region and to reduce poverty. We must use our water resources
prudently so as to ensure its sustainable availability and most important, =
we
must protect the environment and to control deforestation so as to keep
desertification at bay.
17. With those brief remarks, I =
now
declare your workshop open.
Thank you for yo=
ur
attention.