BABATI FARMERS DISTURBED BY THE GOVERNMENT FAILURE TO BUY THEIR MAIZE HARVEST IN TIME

Smallholder farmers in Babati District, Manyara Region, have now begun grappling with bumper harvests with reports that 7,500 tonnes of maize in Gallapo and Qash villages are piling up without buyers.

There are fears that the cereals will get damaged should the rains begin falling in the next few months if they are not bought or stored in secure places.

Farmers who spoke to a representative of the national farmers’ network (Mviwata), Mr Martin Pius, pleaded with the government authorities to urgently look for buyers of their stock.

“Failure to do this will lead to damage of the crop and a big blow to farmers who depend on maize both as a cash and food crop,”lamented Dodo Ekwani, a farmer in Gallapo Village.

He said smallholder farmers in the area needed money to clear their children’s school fees and pay casual labourers they had employed as well as settle hospital bills after selling the maize.

The chairman of Galapo market, Mr Lohay Langai, said farmers in Galapo, Gijedamaerr, Qash and Halu villages brought their maize there hoping it would be purchased by the National Food Reserve Agency (NRFA), but this had not been the case.

“To our surprise several months have passed since the harvest without anybody coming to buy our maize. We will lose everything once the rains start falling in the near future,” he said.

The Councillor for Galapo Ward, Mr Michael Naas Dil, said farmers in the area have been disturbed by the NRFA’s failure to buy their maize harvest, pleading with the government to disburse money to the agency to purchase the piled-up cereals.

The secretary of the market, Mr Abraham Dai, said that during his last visit to Galapo, President Jakaya Kikwete promised them that maize from smallholder farmers would be purchased by NRFA at the rate of Sh 500 per kg.