A stalled scheme to make Tanzania east Africas premier sugar producer has polarised opinion approximately using large-scale agriculture to achieve food securityPer Carstedt,executive chairman of the Swedish company Agro EcoEnergy, has a vision for a shrubby tract of land on the north Tanzanian coast. Under his firm’s plan, or farmers who once depended on subsistence work will earn wages on a sugarcane plantation or from selling sugarcane they grow to a planned processing facility.
The factory will process sugar for export as well as for ethanol. The fields will be crisscrossed with irrigation canals and treated with a mix of organic and synthetic fertiliser. Within a few years,Tanzania will be the biggest sugar producer in the East African Community, transforming its agriculture sector. Related: Battle to feed the world pits small farmers against tremendous agriculture | heed Anderson Related: A Tanzanian child's tale: Zainab Salehe Abu at 10 years aged | Sam Jones Related: Global development podcast: farmers, and GM crops and agriculture's future Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com