Minister threatens to axe crop boards

Dodoma. The minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr Mwigulu Nchemba, yesterday directed crop boards in the country to make internal evaluation and report to him why they should not be disbanded.

The minister told Parliament that his assessment of the boards showed there were a lot of flaws in their operations.

“Wherever there are crop boards, we have a chain of problems such as unfair deducations, crop theft and huge debts. On the other hand, where there are no boards there are no such issues and things run quite smoothly,” he said.

Mr Nchemba was winding up debate on the 2016/17 budget estimates for his ministry, which Parliament passed yesterday. He said the government won’t stand aside and watch boards, which are supposed to regulate the crops and their farmers becoming a stumbling block.

“There are a number of boards that I am supposed to nominate new members, but I have not done so, since I was making my own assessment about their performance and relevance. If they fail to defend their track record, then we will merge them. We can’t afford to have institutions that are exploiting our farmers,” he said.

During the budget debate of his ministry a number of MPs expressed their dissatisfaction with the performance of several boards, with cashew nut and coffee boards topping the list of the MPs’ concern.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr William Ole Nasha, and his counterpart at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Ms Angela Mabula, told Parliament that the government was looking into all possible ways to end clashes between farmers and pastoralists across the country.

“Clashes between farmers and pastoralists are an issue that touches some ministries and we are already working on it. We are holding consultation meetings with the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and the Vice President’s Office (Environment). We want to get to the crux of the matter and if the problem is land, then we will come up with better ways of allocating it between the two groups and avoid frequent clashes,” said Ms Mabula.