DODOMA: DEPUTY Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for Crop Development and Food Security, Prof Peter Msoffe, has assured beneficiaries of the Building a Better Tomorrow (BBT) Programme that the government remains firmly committed to empowering young people to actively participate in transforming the agricultural sector.
Prof Msoffe made the remarks recently during his visit to a farm operated by youth beneficiaries of the BBT Programme in Chinangali, Dodoma.
During his visit, he emphasised that the programme is structured around modern training modules based on scientific and agribusiness approaches aimed at increasing productivity, employment and youth contribution to the national economy.
He said the purpose of his visit was to assess the implementation of the programme and engage with the youth on their achievements and the challenges they face.
During the visit, the Chairperson of the Chinangali Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS), Mr Peter Madukwa, said the programme has equipped young people with technical agricultural skills, enabling them to generate income and create employment opportunities.
Similarly, Ms Julieth Jonas, a beneficiary of the BBT Programme, expressed her gratitude to the Government for giving her the opportunity to participate in the initiative.
She said she has high expectations of achieving meaningful success through agriculture and advised farmers to focus on sunflower cultivation due to its significant economic benefits.
Another beneficiary, Mr Mtengwa Wema Mtengwa, said the Government has provided substantial support, including sending participants to Agricultural Training Institutes (MATI) for five months to receive training in modern farming techniques, as well as two months of training at the National Service (JKT).
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He added that he was also given the opportunity to travel to South Africa to enhance his skills in production and export markets, which has strengthened his capacity to engage in agriculture from a more commercial perspective.
Prof Msoffe’s visit demonstrated the Government’s commitment to closely monitoring the implementation of the BBT Programme across the country, particularly at the council level, with the goal of economically empowering youth and making agriculture a strong pillar of national development.
BBT Programme is closely aligned to Government’s long-term development objectives which focuses on interventions aimed at increasing the value and productivity of agricultural production, employment creation, expanding the diversification of products and strengthening the value chains in the agricultural sector, and creating favourable environments for the private sector to engage profitably in production and export of agricultural products.
It is also aligned to Pathways for Sustainable Food Systems 2030, whose transformative channels include focusing production and productivity on the crop, livestock and fisheries sub-sectors, while financing agriculture and private-sector involvement.
The project development objective is to improve job creation and food and nutrition security for youths in Tanzania. The specific objective of the project is to create business opportunities and decent employment for young women and men along priority agricultural value chains