NFRA To Operate For 1.2trn/- Budget In 2025/26 Fiscal Year 

Implementation Of The Initiative Will See The State- Owned Food Reserving Agency Expanding  It Grains Storage Capacity From The Currently 776,000 Tonnes To At Least 1.1 Million Tonnes In The Current Fiscal Year.

DODOMA. THE National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) is expecting to spend a total of 1.2trn/- to facilitate implementation of various key projects in the current fiscal year of 2025/26.

The projects set for accomplishment include those basing on erection of the agency’s grains storage facilities and establishment of special mechanisation centers, purchasing of cereals from farmers, as well as digitization of service delivery, among others.

NFRA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Andrew Komba  informed the publication  during a planned interview that the amount to be spend comes from the state coffer and from the agency’s own sources.

Implementation of the initiative will see the state- owned food reserving agency expanding  it grains storage capacity from the currently 776,000 tonnes to at least 1.1 million tonnes within this fiscal year, according to him.

To attain the targeted storage capacity, he explained, there will be construction of new grains storage towers, silo and rehabilitation of the dilapidated ones, a project which expects to gobble up to 36.3bn/- the amount received from the central government.

Renovation of the dilapidated grains towers, he said, will impact the warehouses of Kipawa in Dar es Salaam and Mazwi in Sumbawanga.

This, he said, will enable NFRA to create a new space of  cereals reserve to the tune of 60,000 tonnes.

“Preliminary works for the project, including layout and environmental impact assessment is currently taking good shape at various areas across the country where chunk land has been amassed for construction of the facilities,” he said.

From envisaged plan to launch food security bonds scheme, the strategic financial maneuver key to help NFRA to expand it financial sources, he said the agency plans to erect a number of silos and other warehouses in the country’s southern highlands zone with an eye to add- up other 300,000 tonnage space of grains storage.

“Drafted papers for the food security bonds are currently undergoing final approval at few relevant government circle, if all goes well, we’re expecting to launch the helpful scheme in a near future,” he added.

From the planned food security bonds, NFRA targets  to raise at least $490million from local and international donors to maximize grains purchasing and store in large quantities and safely, thus ensuring the national food security.

Detailing over the coming cereals purchasing season set for launch mid this month, Dr Komba unveiled that a total of  800.6bn/- will be spend, saying the agency seek to collect 800,000 tonnes of maize, 150,000 tonnes of paddy, whereby other tonnages will base on legume crops, sunflower and sugar.

“We’re expecting to release to the publicly centers where grains purchasing season will be taking place,” Dr Komba informed.

The NFRA chief boss said contrary to the past years, this year’s grains purchasing epoch will see use of a special digital food tracking system.

“We have opted to adopt the advanced cloud- connected system to standardize our services in order to improve effeciency and reliability,,” he said.

According to him, the system which has enabled NFRA to deter from manual work, is useful in stock management, grains purchasing system through issuing goods received notes (GRN) to farmers.

“Apart from fast -tracking services delivery, the target is to assist us to ensure transparency and effect monitoring and management of state funds,” he insisted.

He added,  NFRA regarding to this season’s grains purchasing, the agency has  established the standards and criteria for purchasing grains to ensure a reliable market for crops. 

And the grains to be procured include white maize, millet and rice, whereby  NFRA has already provide clear procedures and guidelines to ensure a reliable market for businesses.

As per the set procedures, businesses wishing to enter into an agreement with NFRA must meet specific criteria, including having a valid tax clearance certificate and the capacity to supply at least 2,000 tonnes of white maize, white millet and/or rice.

Traders and farmers who do not meet the criteria for selling their grain at NFRA warehouses will still be able to sell their crops through the main NFRA warehouses or new purchasing centres to be opened by the agency, provided they have an agreement with NFRA.

With the currently capacity to reserve a total of 776,000 tons of grains, NFRA operates 72 purchasing points across eight regions—Dodoma, Dar es Salaam (Kipawa), Njombe (Makambako), Songwe, Rukwa (Sumbawanga), Arusha (Babati), Shinyanga and Songea.

The second tier involves purchasing grain in quantities of 2,000 tonnes or more from large-scale traders, while the third tier includes buying from cooperative societies where farmers aggregate their produce.

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Valentine Oforo

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