MOROGORO: THE Tanzania Forest Services (TFS) has been urged to intensify tree planting, production, and export of forest products to reach 50,000 tonnes per year, in contrast to the current 9,000 tonnes exported annually.
The Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Hamad Hassan Chande, made the remarks today, February 19, 2026, in Morogoro during the opening of the TFS 4th Annual Meeting, while emphasizing the need to educate communities on proper beekeeping so that they can generate income and create employment through forest-based products.
Additionally, the minister directed TFS to enhance efforts in designing new tourism products derived from forest resources to attract more tourists to their sites, ultimately supporting the government’s goal of reaching 8 million tourists by 2030.
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Furthermore, the minister commended TFS for strengthening forest resource management and resolving boundary conflicts between forest reserves and villages to a large extent.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry’s Secretary-General, the Director of Administration and Human Resources, Bernard Marcelline, stressed the importance of TFS management to align with TFS plans with the 2025–2030 Election Manifesto and the 2025/26 budget commitments, as well as the Fourth Strategic Plan (2026/27–2030/31), while considering the interests of staff in preparing the 2026/27 budget.
Earlier, the TFS Commissioner for Conservation, Prof Dos Santos Silayo, stated that despite many conservation challenges, TFS has continued various efforts to protect forests, including the use of ICT technologies, training communities on tree planting and forest conservation, enacting by-laws against forest destruction, and implementing a 30-year strategy for forest plantation management.