Tanzania injects USD 450 million in boosting grain storage capacity to 1.1 million tons

Tanzania is working to boost the country’s grain storage capacity from the current 776,000 tonnes to over 1.1 million tonnes within the ongoing financial year.

To facilitate that, the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) is budgeting 1.2 trillion /- equivalent to USD 450 million towards the expansion project as well as buying cereal from farmers and modernizing its operations in the process.

The Chief Executive Officer of the National Food Reserve Agency, Dr Andrew Komba said the NFRA intends to build new grain storage silos in addition to the rehabilitation of the rundown ​cereal holding towers, at the cost of 36.3 billion/- with funds coming from the government.

The silos to be renovated are the ones located at Kipawa in Dar es Salaam and Mazwi in Sumbawanga, with capacity to hold more than 60,000 tons of cereal.

In addition, the National Food Reserve Agency will construct more grain storage towers in the southern parts of the country capable of handling more than 300,000 tons of grain, in ensuring food security aa well as guaranteeing reliable market outlets for local farmers.

The National Food Reserve Agency’s current capacity is to store around 776,000 tons of grains.

The NFRA operates 72 purchasing points across eight regions, including Dodoma, Dar es Salaam (Kipawa), Njombe (Makambako), Songwe, Rukwa (Sumbawanga), Arusha (Babati), Shinyanga and Songea.

“Already the NFRA is rolling out the national food security bonds scheme, an initiative taken to reinforce the financial capability of the agency, targeting to raise at least USD 490million from local and international sources and boosting grain purchasing muscle,” Dr Komba maintained.

The National Food Reserve Agency intends to spend over 800 billion/- in purchasing more than 800,000 tons of maize and 150,000 tons of rice, as well as buying from farmers, other crop produce including legumes, sunflower and sugar.

“We are also adopting modern technology now, with most of the grain procuring process this year being executed digitally with special cloud based tracking for transparency and efficiency,” revealed Dr Komba.