Tanzania hits 130pc food sufficiency — TPHPA

DODOMA: TANZANIA’S food production exceeded 23 million tonnes in the past financial year, as the country also expanded access to key export markets, the Tanzania Plant Health and Pesticides Authority (TPHPA) has said. TPHPA Director General Professor Joseph Ndunguru, speaking to journalists in Dodoma, said the country recorded 130 per cent food sufficiency during the period. “These achievements demonstrate the country’s growing capacity to protect crops, improve food production and compete in international markets,” Prof Ndunguru said.

Eight new Tanzanian companies were approved to export avocados to China, bringing the number of registered exporters to 24, he said. Tanzania also secured or expanded export access for avocados to South Africa, India and China, soybeans to China, cottonseed and sunflower cake to China, yellow maize to Egypt and fresh bananas to South Africa. “Our expanding market access shows international confidence in the quality and safety of Tanzania’s agricultural produce,” Prof Ndunguru said.

Among the Authority’s major interventions was the control of 233.5 million quelea birds that invaded 21 districts. Using aircraft and drones, TPHPA prevented extensive damage to cereal crops, saving an estimated 1,092,780 tonnes of grain that could have been lost, Prof Ndunguru said. “The quelea bird operation alone protected the livelihoods of thousands of farming households who would, otherwise, have lost their harvests,” he said.

TPHPA also strengthened plant health surveillance using PCR testing and DNA sequencing to identify a locust species during an investigation in Mpwapwa District, Dodoma Region, improving the country’s capacity to respond to emerging crop pests and diseases, Prof Ndunguru said. On pesticide regulation, TPHPA removed 205 hazardous pesticides from the market in January this year following health and environmental assessments and deregistered 675 products whose registrations had not been renewed for more than ten years. ALSO READ: TPHPA saves 1.4m tonnes of crops after implementing measures against quelea birds, armyworms “We will not allow unsafe or expired pesticide registrations to remain on the market and put farmers, consumers and the environment at risk,” Prof Ndunguru said.

TPHPA also plans to strengthen border inspection stations with mini-laboratories, modern equipment and faster inspection services in the 2026/27 f…