Taking rice to the next level in Tanzania

As the biggest city in the region, Morogoro is not only known for its beautiful background with the Uluguru Mountains, but also for its function as a regional centre for agriculture. It is surrounded by arable land and hosts the famous Sokoine University of Agriculture.

With the Morogoro region being among the two major regions for rice cultivation, it is no surprise that the government of Tanzania decided to convene the Task Force for the National Rice Development Strategy II (NRDS II) in Morogoro. The Task Force met to plan the implementation of the NRDS II. This strategy wants to scale up the rice production to such an extent that it meets the growing regional and even continental demand for rice. It aims to double the production from two tonnes per hectare to four tonnes per hectare. Rikolto joined this task force in March this year and we sent our rice expert Djalou to Morogoro to join the meeting.

Djalou had a clear goal before getting on the road: Make environmental sustainability of rice production a priority in the National Rice Development Strategy II. Building on Rikolto’s experience with introducing Sustainable Rice Practices (SRP) in northern Tanzania, we want to use the opportunity presented by the National Rice Development Strategy II to scale up Sustainable Rice Practices in the rest of Tanzania. In the north, farmers have benefited greatly from changing their agricultural practices to more sustainable ones in line with the SRP standards. They have for instance noticed an increase in their production and have managed the use of water better and more sustainably.

Want to know more? Reach out to our colleague Djalou.

Djalou Franco

Rice Senior Agribusiness Advisor-Mbeya,Tanzania

djalou.franco [at] rikolto.org

Mbeya

Cover picture by Philippe Leyssens