KEYNOTE SPEECH BY ACTING PERMANENT SECRETARY
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE FOOD SECURITY AND
COOPERATIVES ON OPENING THE EAST AFRICAN ORGANIC
CONFERENCE HELD AT BOT DAR ES SALAAM,
JULY 2ND -4TH 2013
Chairperson of TOAM, Dr Mwatima Juma
Head of the Swedish Regional Development Cooperation
Director ARSO
IFOAM Executive Director
Conference participants from EAC Countries and beyond
Members of the Press
Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you
all to this important meeting and for those coming from
outside the United Republic of Tanzania I would like to extend
to our country. I assure you that we are proud to host this
remarkable event. We believe it will generate a groundbreaking and crucial discussion for productive tripartite
cooperation
in
organic
farming.
It is an honour for me to represent the United Republic of
Tanzania in the opening of this two day important conference
on organic agriculture. I must sincerely thank those who made
this meeting possible. It is my hope that at the end of your
meeting, you will have shared experiences and learned from
each other, and be able to formulate concepts, strategies and
practical actions for the development of agricultural sector.
I feel personally honoured to have been given the opportunity
to address you on this occasion because I strongly believe that
organic farming is among the best appropriate traditions to eco
friendly farming system particularly for horticultural crops and
especially spices and other crops with niche market.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1 The African Union (AU) decision on Organic Farming is a clear
indication that governments in Africa embrace the organic
farming systems and practices to contribute to increased
agricultural production and productivity and address food
security and poverty that citizens in the continent are facing.
I congratulate the Organic farming stakeholders for embracing
the Public, Private Partnership (PPP) that has resulted to a
collaborative programme on Ecological Organic Agriculture
Initiative. I call upon Governments, regional economic blocks,
development partners and institutions to mainstream and
support the initiatives. I am sure that all these efforts are inline with our policy decisions, strategies and plans towards
climate change, biodiversity, environmental and natural
resource conservation.
The conference has brought organic stakeholders to share the
experiences gained since the launch of East Africa Organic
Products in Tanzania in 2007. Let me give my special gratitude
to the development partners for their healthy support onto this
sector, my exceptional thanks goes to Swedish International
Development Agency (SIDA) for their long term spotlight in
organic agriculture.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I recognize the contribution of organic farming in addressing
climatic change, food, safety and biodiversity, as well as
increasing crop yields and thus enhancing food security.
In cognizant of the aforementioned, the agricultural policy of
Tanzania has incorporated organic agriculture in its policy
statements that:(i) registration and availability of organic inputs to farmers
shall be facilitated;
(ii)
the government shall facilitate accreditation of
organic products in order to reduce certification
costs;
2 (iii)
(iv)
Initiatives for regulation and certification of organic
products shall be promoted; and
In collaboration with private sector, effective
coordination among stakeholders shall be enhanced.
Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and
Cooperatives will ensure its implementation. Already efforts
have been started in various crops including coffee, tea, cocoa
and spices just to mention a few.
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my sincere hope that the outcome of this meeting will
strengthen and support such efforts. I acknowledge the support
provide by the European Union (EU), Swiss Development
Cooperation and SIDA in organic agriculture development in
Tanzania as a result of this support, area and volume of
organic agricultural produce has increased. I also recognize the
efforts by International Federation for Organic Agricultural
Movement (IFOAM) on providing training in quality standards
and on adherence to good agricultural practices for organic
agriculture.
The need for organic agriculture is now widely recognized
particularly on environmentally friendly agriculture against the
rapid climatic changes. I hope I have stimulated your minds
and helped the way through to your discussions.
With this few remarks, I now declare that this conference is
officially opened.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
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