Kagera gears up for World Food Day

KAGERA: WHILE preparations are in full swing to host the World Food Day scheduled for October 16, this year, Kagera Regional Commissioner (RC), Ms. Fatma Mwassa has said the region has sufficient food.

Speaking to the Media at her office yesterday, Ms. Mwassa said during 2023/24 the region produced a total of 3.4 million metric tonnes, while food requirement stood at 770,000 metric tonnes.

“I am happy to announce that the region has a surplus of 2.6 million metric tonnes of food. However, people should not relax instead increase the production of cash and food crops,” she insisted.

Elaborating, she said the celebrations will be staged at the CCM Complex in Bukoba Municipality starting on October 10 and will reach climax on October 16, 2024 where the Minister for Agriculture, Hussein Bashe will be guest of honour.

She encouraged citizens to visit the pavilion where people will get education on several critical agricultural issues including modern crop husbandry, livestock and fish cage farming.

She also appealed to Tanzanians to grab the attractive investment opportunities by increasing production of cash and food crops to enable the nation to get raw materials needed in its industrial drive.

Equally, she challenged Kagera residents to exploit economic opportunities due to its strategic location. Kagera region is directly bordering three East African Community (EAC) countries- Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi while Kenya can also be reached through Lake Victoria.

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The region is also a gateway to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with a combined market of around 300 million.

“This is a big asset to increase our trade relations,” she remarked.