<p></p><p>Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Water Mwigulu Nchemba has asked the Parliament to endorse Sh275 billion for his ministry's 2016/17 Budget estimates, Sh116.4 of which would be development expenditure. <br></p> <p>He said among other things, the fund would be spent on the implementation of various projects and strategic plans. The minister said in the 2016/17 fiscal year, his ministry would focus on ensuring there is availability of agricultural inputs. <br></p> <p>His ministry, he underscored, would facilitate the supply of at least 400,000 tons of fertiliser and 40,000 tons of seeds. The ministry would also enable the supply and availability of insecticides for cotton, cashew nuts and other crops. <br></p> <p>Moreover, the ministry, through the Tanzania Fertiliser Regulatory Authority (TFRA) would register a total of 500 fertiliser suppliers as well as inspect and provide training to 300 suppliers in the 2016/17 fiscal year. He added that the government would boost the production of sugar, tea, cashew nuts, coffee, cotton, sisal, cassava, tobacco and other crops. <br></p> <p>Mr Nchemba added that in 2016/17, his ministry is set to renovate 26 warehouses across the country and purchase 98 equipment for reserving crops in Iringa, Ruvuma, Mbeya, Rukwa, Njombe and Katavi regions. <br></p> <p>Mr Nchemba said the ministry would further ensure there is good governance and performance in the cooperative unions, strengthen development plans, facilitate fair competition among cooperative unions and improve the uses of communication technology in the cooperatives sector. <br></p> <p>The minister said in the 2016/17 financial year, the ministry through NARCO would continue with the construction of modern abattoirs, produce 3609 calves and buy 2,000 cows from wananchi. He said so far, the government owns a total of 13,423 cows as well as 30,060 sheep and goats. The government will conduct training on skin processing in 75 district councils across the country so as to boost the business, he said. <br></p> <p>Mr Nchemba added that his ministry, in collaboration with the ministry of Land, Housing and Human Settlements Development, would continue to address farmers-pastoralists conflicts by allocating land for each group in various parts of the country. He said the ministry will work closely with the private sector to boost fishing by ensuring all people who engage in fishing are getting government support. <br></p> <p>The Parliamentary Committee for Agriculture, Livestock and Water yesterday asked Parliament to task the government to implement previous and current development projects before initiating new ones amid revelation that only Sh5.1 billion out of Sh52.1 billion was released for development projects for the ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in the 2015/16 fiscal year. The committee chairperson, Dr Mary Nagu, told the House that most of development projects in the 2016/17 are continuation of development projects which were allocated funds in the 2015/16 fiscal year. <br></p> <p>Dr Nagu was reading the her committee's remarks and recommendations for the ministry's 2016/17 Budget estimates. She said her committee has noted that until March, the government had not released any funds to finance development projects in the ending financial year. <br></p> <p>Last year, Parliament endorsed Sh213 billion for the then ministry of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives, of which Sh32 billion was for development projects and the remaining for recurrent expenditure. However, until March, this year, only Sh5.1 billion had been released for development project. <br></p> <p>Moreover, Parliament endorsed Sh60.3 billion for the then ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development. A total of Sh19.4 was for the development projects while Sh42.9 was slated for recurrent expenditure. However, the government didn't release even a single cent for development projects. <br></p> <p>The two--ministry of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives and ministry for Livestock and Fisheries Development--have now been merged by President John Magufuli to form the Ministry for Agriculture, livestock and Fisheries. <br></p> <p>Dr Nagu said there is a need for Parliament to supervise the government and make sure it intensifies sources of revenues to finance various development projects in the ministry. <br></p> <p>"The Parliament must make sure the government starts the implementation of past development projects so that it makes it easier to launch new projects, otherwise, we will be pretending to endorse new budget estimates but in real sense we are talking about the same projects every year," she said. <br></p> <p>Opposition camp's spokesperson Magdalena Sakaya said failure to release development funds as required means the ministry didn't engage in any development activities in the whole 2015/16. <br></p> <p>She said the government's failure to release funds has been affecting various development project in agriculture, livestock and fishing sectors. <br></p> <p>She said the government has also failed to revive the cooperatives since it allocates too little cash to the sector. She said in the 2015/16, the government allocated Sh6.2 billion for cooperatives but until March 31, this year, only Sh2.9 billion was released, which is equivalent to 47 per cent. <br></p> <p>"The released money was only for paying salaries and other recurrent matters, therefore the amount couldn't enable cooperative officials to conduct inspections and other activities to boost the sector," she said. <br></p> <p>In the 2016/17, the government has allocated Sh6 billion for cooperatives sector, which is less by Sh200 million compared to the amount endorsed in the ending financial year. <br></p> <p>Ms Sakaya added that the government has so far failed to utilise opportunities in the livestock and fisheries sectors and that the money allocated for research in the sector has been not released as required and thus fail researchers from reaching targets.</p> <p>According to the 2015/16 ministerial budget, Sh1.2 billion was set aside for research but until March, this year, only Sh114 million was released.<br></p><p></p>