DAR ES SALAAM, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania has earmarked a total of 400,000 hectares of land for cultivation of wheat, a move aimed at ending shortage of the crop in the country, a senior official said on Thursday.
Hussein Bashe, the Minister of Agriculture, said the 400,000 hectares of land will be cultivated with wheat in wheat growing regions within three years beginning in 2022.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Tanzania produced 70,000 tons of wheat in 2021 while the country imports between 800,000 tons and 1 million tons of wheat annually.
Speaking to stakeholders of the crop from various regions that met in the capital Dodoma, Bashe said the Ministry of Agriculture is in the process of distributing 50,000 tons of wheat seeds to farmers.
He urged regional commissioners from wheat producing regions to oversee the massive cultivation of the cereal without fail.
Omary Mgumba, the Songwe regional commissioner, said wheat farmers in the region abandoned cultivating the crop and shifted to growing other crops after prices of wheat had dropped. ■