Small scale farmers in the country have appealed to the government to revoke the law that allows production of GMO produce in the country claiming that the technology is distorting the market for their produce and poses health threat to consumers.
The call was made by members of the national network of farmers groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA) who met recently to dialogue the Agriculture and Food policies, the meeting brought together farmers, researchers, partner organizations and government officials.
Speaking at the event, the MVIWATA chairperson, Veronica Sophu said that farmers in many African countries have started using GMO seeds of various crops and the effects are being witnessed by emerging of plant diseases hard to treat.
“As small holder farmers, we are not ready to use such technology, instead we are calling for the government and other stakeholders to look deeply into the really challenges facing farmers in the country, for GMO is not one,” she said.
She explained that small holder farmers were facing numerous challenges including lack of markets for their produce, high prices of farm inputs , land conflicts and many more calling for the governemt to come up with innovations to improve their conventional seeds instead of pushing for GMOs.
On his side, the MVIWATA guardian and former Regional commissioner for Morogoro Stephen Mashishanga said it was up to farmers to continue raising their voices to defend their interests until their demands are heard since they were lacking representation in most national fora.
“If farmers, through your network, united and raised your voices to protest against GMO, I believe the incumbent government will hear out your cry and do a lot to improve production environment,” he said.
Making presentation at the meeting, Advisor of Legal services –Vice President office Isakwisa Lameck said already the government has allowed use of GMOs technology for research purposes.
He said the government has put regulations and procedures for using that technology and that permits are only issued basing on results.
Giving an example, he said, in 2003 there was a request to produce food for infants, but that the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority rejected the request since the law doesn’t allow production of children foods from GMOs produce.
He added that the government was not forcing any one to use the technology but enforce the law and regulations stipulated and that only few people had adopted the technology.
However he admitted that management of implementation of the law was still challenged by resources for identifying the GMOs produce and lack of capacity to carry enough scientific researches on merits and demerits of the technology.

Participants attended WTO dialogue in Morogoro

Smallholder farmers through their National network of farmers groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA) have stated that they do not see any benefits for the country to continue being a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a belief that it supports the smallholder farmers.
The latter is the only international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.
Speaking at the meeting in Morogoro organized by MVIWATA to discuss the position of smallholder farmers in WTO and the Tanzanian government standing, the farmers blamed the government for not engaging them fully in planning and addressing issues affecting their welfare which in turn result to hampering in national agricultural development.
“Our country does not value our inputs to various national and international agreements. The government Officials do not consult us and address our needs, as a result they end up signing agreements, develop policies and programmes which do not reflect our reality” said Habibu Simbamkuti, a smallholder farmer from Kilombero.
He said most farmers were unaware of the opportunities and benefits present for the country being a member of the WTO and how they could directly benefit as smallholder farmers.
“We feel that we were not prepared enough to take advantages of such markets. We have so far not fully realized the potential of the regional (East Africa) market and yet the government insists on us to explore international market opportunities. We are of the opinion that we will not benefit from the international markets due to lack of preparedness,” he said.
“The government needs to put conducive environment for smallholder farmers to do farming profitably in the country or in the region before entering the international markets, which have entry barriers imposed by strict regulations from WTO” said Mr. Ndeshukuriwa Mbise, a smallholder farmer from Arusha
On her side, Veronica Sophu, MVIWATA chairperson emphasized that if the government persists on having smallholder farmers’ participation in the international markets, then it ought to establish a trade system that favors them to enter and compete in such markets.
“We need the system in place that will enable us to produce and supply desirable quality and quantity of agricultural products in order to be able to compete with other traders from other countries in the international market” said Sophu.
Explaining the process, a representative from Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ernest Elius said farmers can only reap from such markets if they can produce and pack high quality products meeting standards set by WTO and passed by the country bureau of standards.
He agreed that small scale farmers needed incentives such as subsidized farm inputs so that they could raise productivity and quality of produce and be able to compete with farmers from other developed countries.
The dialogue organized by MVIWATA entailed to raise smallholder farmers’ awareness on various international business and food security opportunities available in which small producers could reap from.

Civil society organizations have raised alarm over existing gaps in important six Human Rights that they presented to the United Nations, through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as part of the Universal Periodic Review whereby various governments evaluate their own implementation of human rights.

Mr. Stanslaus Nyembea MVIWATA Policy analyst cum Legal Aid Officer addressing some of the weakness on implementing Human rights and actions which government supposed to take to recover the situation.

Among the involved non-government organizations are; National Network of Farmers’ groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA), Tanzania Women’s Lawyers Association (TAWLA), Mwanga Community Bank (MCBL), Community Banks Association of Tanzania (COBAT), Meru Community Bank-Arusha (MECOB) and Tanzania Home Association (TAHEA) under the We Effect of Kenya.
Speaking at the MVIWATA Annual General Meeting, the MVIWATA Legal and Policy Analyst, Stanslaus Nyembea said regarding land rights, the government in her first evaluation report to Human Rights Implementation had vowed to tame land conflicts related to land acquisition owned by various vulnerable and marginalized groups of people especially smallholder farmers.
However, to-date, he said the government has failed to curb the land conflicts continuing to prevail in various districts in the country including in Mvomero, Bagamoyo, Mbarali, Loliondo, Babati, Kilosa and Kiteto.
Despite the call from the civil societies demanding the government to fulfil her vow to curbing land conflicts in the country, they have unanimously expressed fear of persistence to smallholder farmers land grabbing through national agricultural policy and programme such as SAGCOT (Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor in Tanzania). The latter is claimed to aim at amending section of the current village land laws to facilitate land grabbing for large investors.
With regard to the right to adequate settlements the lawyer said, even as the Government specify two strategies to ensure every Tanzanian gets better housing and safety in conformity to the national vision 2015 of better life to every citizen yet there has been significant high house prices offered by the National House Agency (NHC) and which mostly are situated in the city.

“According to UNDP, National Housing Corporation has high price houses, two-bedroom house sold is at TShs 67.9 million whereas the income of an ordinary Tanzanian is $584 per year and Tanzania poverty rate is 65.6 percent,” he said.

They therefore urged the Government of Tanzania to address the challenges, including tackling the high cost of building materials and create a national policy on housing and planning and means to enable smallholder farmers to access loan so that they can also have better settlements.

With regard to the right to prepare an enabling environment for small-scale farmers and food security, the NGOs have noted that in the first evaluation report of the Human Right Implementation in the country, government had put in place comprehensive strategies for food security and safety.

Further to this, Tanzania is a member of the Maputo Declaration which needs member states to allocate 10 percent of their national budgets for agriculture, also is a member of the International Covenant on economic rights, social and cultural (ICESCR), which recognizes the right to each have a better quality of life including food, shelter and housing.

Therefore, they urged the government to implement its commitment to the Maputo Declaration and the international treaty on the rights of economic, social and cultural (ICESCR) to enable small farmers to produce enough food for their families and meet the needs of the market.

In addition to that, they urged the government to work on getting rid of the various obstacles affecting the agricultural sector from the production to marketing of the agricultural produce.

Rights of people with albinism was also highlighted at the meeting, it was mentioned that, since 2000-2013 there have been merciless attacks of people with albinism where at least 72 people were reported killed and 49 suffered permanent disability and up to now only five cases have been determined on merit while many suspects were freed without concrete reasons. “The government has to make sure that such victims are compensated and justice is granted,” he said.

Other rights specified by the NGOs were the rights of women. They called for recognition of the existing laws that provide equal opportunities for both women and men on ownership of properties including acquisition, usage or sell of properties such as land. They condemned on continued use of customary laws that discriminate women against inheritance, marriage and property ownership.
“We urge the Government to take deliberate steps to remove all kinds of gender discrimination in order to conform to the International Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and gender and have a strategy planning to curb all forms of violence against women.”

The right of existence of financial services for smallholder farmers to support good agricultural production was noted where various studies show that only 12 percent of the Tanzanian population have access to financial services while 40 percent access such services through informal arrangements like SACCOS.

While 17 percent of them have access to financial services through VIKOBA, 30 percent do not have any kind of access to financial services.

“Since the government has tried to improve financial services to small farmers on reasonable terms, including to allocate TShs. 500 million in fiscal year 2015 for a capital increase in the bank for agricultural development (TADP) and setup special window for agriculture at Investment Bank (TIB) to facilitate substantial agricultural.”

“Banks established by the government are all headquartered in cities like Dar es Salaam and so we urge the government through the central bank to control the interest rates charged by commercial banks and to ensure the agricultural development bank services reach smallholder farmers in their respective localities,” explained Mr. Nyembea.

Summing up the views of civil societies, Ms. Faith Mtuku from We effect-Kenya said that there is a need for the existing regimes/government subscribers of the Universal Periodic Review to fulfill their commitments related to human rights and to work quickly on the shortcomings highlighted with civil societies and other stakeholders who participated in the study evaluation.

Ms Faith Mtiku a representative from We effect, Kenya.

Morogoro Regional Commissioner Dr. Rajabu Rutengwa warns government officials who embrace land conflicts without taking appropriate measures to curb the situation and thus allowing the problems to persist.

Morogoro Regional Commissioner give out speech to MVIWATA Members and guests

He addressed the matter during MVIWATA 20th Annual General Meeting held at Jordan University College in Morogoro region, attended by 210 organization members from Tanzania mainland and island together with invited guests from partner organizations totaling to 350 participants.
Speaking recently with MVIWATA farmers in Morogoro, Dk Rutengwa pointed out that the problem of land conflict between pastoralists and famers has become the obstacle to the development of the two sides and the blame being thrown to the government officials who were expected to resolve the conflict.
“We have received many complains which involve government officials turning out to be custodians for the land conflicts in the country driven by selfish reasons and contrary to government will. The government cannot tolerate such misconduct and so is organized to deal with the perpetrators”, noted Dr. Rutengwa.
He consequently advised farmers and pastoralists to be alert with bad government officials who provoke their misunderstanding and to further report to respective authorities upon noticing depriving of their rights.
Apart from that, Dr. Rutengwa also pointed out that accessibility of quality seeds for cereals and better markets for farm produce are among major challenges in the country facing small scale farmers.

MVIWATA members and invited guests pose for a group picture with Morogoro RC

On that he said, the Government is organized to partner with private sectors to facilitate the access of markets for agricultural produce by; building enabling infrastructure for markets and storage facilities with focus in rural areas. Parallel to that, the government is organized to provide small scale farmers with agricultural education and remove operational barriers for warehouse receipts.
He added that, the government is organized to establish market for products in accordance to the law of the market products (Common Exchange Act) No. 15 of 2015, and to strategically construct markets in national boundaries in order to render farmers with an opportunity to sell their products out of the country.
Concerning seed issues Dr. Rutengwa said, “It is now the high time to discover and evaluate the quality of seeds for varieties of agricultural produces which can yield high quantity, resist climate change and ensure provision of high nutritional value”. Similarly, to produce seeds for different crops in partnership with public and private institutions to meet the needs of seed production in the country.
He added that, there is a need to put more emphasis in conducting research on diseases and pests affecting agricultural produce such as banana, cassava, coconut, paddy, maize, vegetable and fruits in order to increase quality and quality of production in the country.
Alfred Michael a paddy farmer from in Morogoro said agriculture sector is being controlled by politicians, something that holds back the development of sectors.
According to him the current land conflict that exists between farmers and pastoralists is caused also by business men who collaborate with politician in order to get land for business.
“The main reason for slow growth of agricultural sector in the country is political autonomy in decision making on agricultural technical matters. We need an independent body that will be authorized by the government to resolve our problems,” Michael said.
On her part MVIWATA Chairperson Mrs. Veronica Sophu asked the government to recognize small scale farmers as an important engine to National GDP as well as the center for production considering 95% of food consumed within the country is being cultivated by small scale farmers.

Smallholder farmers in the country have released their statement that discourse a list of demands to be worked on by the elected government leaders. The statement was issued by members of Network of small-scale farmer’s group in Tanzania (MVIWATA) during their Annual General Meeting.
Speaking to the participants recently in Morogoro, MVIWATA chairperson Mrs.Veronica Sophu said that farmers who are the main producers of national food and cash crops and who contribute to national income are less valued by the government.

MVIWATA Chairperson Mrs. Veronica Sophu reading statement on Smallholder Farmers’ Demands

She further explained that, smallholder farmers comprise 80 percent of rural residents in Tanzania who majority are the voters and have pointed out seven demands with order of priority to be recognized and implemented by the elected government officials without political biasness.
Mentioning the priorities, Mrs. Sophu said that smallholder farmers want their production systems to be nationally recognized that is having legal protection for local seeds and smallholder farmers land similar to forest reserve land.
The Chairperson added that, there is a need for government to ensure that farming inputs reach smallholder farmers on time and insisted on allocating more national agriculture budget and ensure proper management of the latter.
“We smallholder farmers are aware of the government effort towards increasing national agricultural budget yet it has not reached to 10 percent as required by the ratified Maputo declaration of 2003 as a means to accelerate development in agricultural sector” she said.
The basic social services in the rural areas should not be provided as a product but as required services to all citizens

MVIWATA members and guests listening attentively to Smallholder Farmers’ Demands

Another priority mentioned was that of reliable accessibility to basic social services in rural areas such as health, quality education, clean and safe water, quality road, affordable source of energy, and security to smallholder farmers’ properties without biasness.
She further said that, the elected leaders should understand that they have been elected by the citizens and thus are responsible with retaining leadership ethics and nurturing democracy by promoting right to speech in the country. Also the local government should be the epicenter for national democracy and a channel to citizens’ participation in bringing about development through working on available resources for existing programmes.
On green revolution, the Chairperson explained that, smallholder farmers are of the view that the programme is benefiting commercial large scale farmers and not them.
The concept is built on the basis of despising smallholder farmers by mirroring them as the source to economic poverty in the country. Alternatively, it has focused on promoting commercial farming which is the catalyst for land grabbing used by smallholder farmers and destruction of the environment. She explained.
They insisted that the system is supposed to be changed from green revolution to farming revolution.
They also reiterate to the government to work upon the longstanding land conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, they argue the government to find solution to the problem that involves small producers against large producers, small farmers against large scale farmers.
Mrs. Sophu explained that, they want to see there is ownership of resources and control of economy whereby we need to see food processing plant are revived in order to increase market opportunities and employment to normal citizen.
She ended saying, farmers are supposed to collaborate together to bring changes and that they are not ready to witness a system that produces few riches while leaving majority at poverty line.

Farmers in Mvomero district have advised the government to improve the system for supplying agricultural inputs for year 2015/16.

Mr. Stanford Chabonga Kilosa chairman for Public Expenditure and Tracking System (PETS)

The farmers who are members of the Network of Farmers Groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA), raised the statement during the debate prepared by MVIWATA in collaboration with ESAFF under the project for strengthening smallholder farmers’ skills and capacity in the public expenditures tracking system (PETS).
Through the dialogue dubbed; “The opportunity for local farmers in the agricultural sector planning”, involving agriculture experts from Kilosa district together with MVIWATA members from Dumila, Berega, Ludewa, Mvumi and Kibega.

MVIWATA farmers from five villages pose for group picture with District Administrative Secretary during the dialogue.

Raising their concerns to Kilosa District Administrative Secretary (DAS) Erick Sagara, they said that they have experienced delay in the supply of farming inputs accompanied by fraud hence limiting their right to access their needs timely.

Abruno Saidi MVIWATA member said that, there are no proper procedures that govern the supply of farming inputs as a result farmers do not only lack timely access to information but also fail to benefit from the latter.

Moses Chisengo farmer from Berega ward said that, far from the delay of inputs to reach to farmers’ timely, supply of the inputs is obviously miserable evidenced by farmers being forced to accept various farming inputs contrary to their needs. With reference to the aforementioned reasons, we ask the government to change the system of employing the seed agents to minimize fraud.

Responding to the farmers concerns, Kilosa Agricultural officer Mihenga Mihenga admitted that there is delay in supplying farm inputs and the government has already changed the agricultural inputs supply system. He argued farmers to be cautious in selecting representative members for managing the farm input system.
“There will be representatives of farmers in all committee from village level, ward, district, region,  to national level and six representatives from the village level must be elected by village government and authorized by central village meeting in which you will be part of decision making as you do recognize the candidates”.
Far from that, Mihenga explained that not all farmers from Kilosa district will receive farming inputs for the production season 2015/16 but will be for those who engage in paddy and maize production.
Likewise, a farmer who qualifies to receive the input is the one that can afford to pay half of the cost for the input supply and the remaining amount will be paid by the government.

Apart from addressing the issue of farming input, the chairperson for public expenditure tracking systems (PETS) committee in Kilosa Mr. Stanford Chabonga through his committee reported to have discovered embezzlement of funds channeled for water irrigation scheme in Ludewa.

Mr. Chabonga who is also a member of MVIWATA said, due to failure to complete the irrigation project, citizens have decided to contribute funds each worth TShs. 10,000/=   in order to make sure that the construction of the scheme is completed to allow farming activities to proceed.

“ As PETS committee in district level we have made a follow up funds disbursed and discover that, the first phase of the project there were TShs. 5m/- disbursed to construct the water intake and a total of TShs. 350m/- was added for the construction of water irrigation scheme, though nothing has been done to date,” explained Chabonga

The Swiss Embassy has extended its support to MVIWATA, a network of small-scale farmers’ groups active all over Tanzania. The contribution aims at strengthening the network’s capacity and empowering its members technically, economically and politically in farming matters.

Lima — An ‘open-source’ seed initiative has released 36 varieties of 14 food crops, which the project’s leaders say could help poor farmers get access to better quality seeds.

The new seed varieties have been available for delivery globally from mid-May, says Irwin Goldman, a vegetable breeder and horticulturalist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was involved in the release. She tells SciDev.Net that there have already been more than 350 orders from around the world, and that the project’s ultimate aim is to help change the international rules that limit the exchange of seeds of crops such as carrot, kale, lettuce, broccoli and quinoa.

All seed packets include an ‘open-source seed pledge’. This states that the seeds can be used in any way and that any new crop varieties developed from them must remain free for everyone to use.

“We cannot be sure that someone will not try and patent or restrict [the seeds we’ve released], but we will do our best to survey what happens to these materials as they go out into the community,” says Goldman.

Today, many countries place complex international legislation on seeds, involving rules on patents and other forms of intellectual property protection. This means farmers are prohibited from harvesting seeds and using them the following season.

“We want to restore the practice of sharing planting materials freely between breeders. That was a wonderful way to work until more than 20 years ago,” says Goldman.

The release was made by the US-based Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI), a project established in 2011 that believes that genetic resources – in the form of seeds – should be a common resource that anyone can use as they see fit. Its members fear that existing and future intellectual property laws could result in all plant genetic material being locked out of public reach.

Janny van Beem, head of the Germplasm Acquisition and Distribution Unit at research organisation the International Potato Center, praises initiatives that share and facilitate the exchange of genetic resources.

Poor farmers often cannot afford good-quality seeds developed by multinationals and so end up using low-end crops harvested locally, she explains.

The government intends to repossess idle land tracts that are not being used for any economic activities and offering to landless farmers, the deputy minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, George Simbachawene has announced.
Officiating the workshop to mark International Peasants day that was organised by the National Network of farmers Groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA) in Morogoro Region, he said Tanzania has vast areas of undeveloped farmland held by ‘investors’.

MVIWATA held a workshop to commemorate International Day of Peasants Struggle and International Year of Family Farming on April 16,2014.
Every April 17, the world remembers massacre of 19 peasants who were struggling for land and justice in Brazil in 1996.

In his speech, Mr Simbachawene said “we have already started legal procedures to see how this exercise will be carried out. Our aim is to give idle land to farmers who need it most.”
He went on to say that, despite the process, it would be better if investors owning huge undeveloped pieces of land to willfully surrender it to government authorities so as to enable more poorer farmers to engage in agricultural activities.

According to him, there are some land owners who misuse their rights of occupancy by sub-letting farms to smallholder farmers at exorbitant rates of fees.
“This is not acceptable, we will repossess the land and give it back to farmers because it is their constitutional right,” he stressed.

He also urged district councils to increase their budget on land survey so as to reduce unnecessary conflicts between farmers and pastoralists centered about land borders.
“I hereby order land surveyors to perform their jobs with due diligence despite the limited financial resources within their areas of jurisdiction,” he said.

Speaking at the same event, the Board Chairman of MVIWATA, Habib Simbamkuti, commended the government for that move saying it was timely and asked for speedy implementation.
“We ask the government to do it quickly because there are many peasants countrywide who do not have land at all,” he said.

He also urged the government to survey all village land in the country and provide owners certificates of occupancy and title deeds to reduce the escalating land conflicts.
He said ongoing land disputes between farmers and investors are caused by lack of title deeds.
“Tanzania has done little in surveying its 12,000 villages and this has resulted in conflicts. Statistics shows that only one per cent of village land is surveyed. ” he added.

An interviewed small scale farmer Ashura Salehe, from Kisarawe district in Coast Region, was of the view that the government should do more to prevent land grabbing.
She said women and children are the main victims as the government promotes investment by medium-scale farmers and sidelines small-scale farmers.

“The government has forgotten about women who makes huge portion of smallholder farmers. The only way out is to come together and say no to any form of land grabbing, she said.
She added that there was a need for the institutes like MVIWATA to add efforts to educate more people especially village leaders on existing land laws and rights so as they can protect their land before giving it away to dubious investors.

“Most of us sign agreements to give our only pieces of land to the so-called investors without understanding the future effects to our community,” she added.

Every year, MVIWATA joins other institutes to mark the International Day of Peasants to invoke solidarity around the world in the defense of smallholder producers working for social justice and the right to grow food for their families and communities.

At least 46 percent of subsidised fertilisers does not reach the farmers as planned, retarding government efforts toward promoting agricultural sector ,a new research has revealed.
Presenting research findings at a workshop to mark the International Peasants Day, which was organised on April 16 by the National Network of Farmers Groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA) in Morogoro, Dr Damian Gabagambi said more actions needs to be taken to reverse the trend.
International Day of Peasants’ Struggle, commemorates the massacre of 19 peasants who were struggling for land and justice in Brazil in 1996.
The three-year research h completed last year was conducted in four regions namely, Mbeya, Rukwa, Morogoro and Shinyanga wherein it involved over 7000 farmers.
He said over 70 per cent of interviewed farmers said they did not receive fertiliser subsidy provided by the government due to various reasons, including negligence, hence opted to buy at higher prices.
The don, who is also a senior lecturer at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) said delays experienced in the system hinder full implementation of the country’s plan to revive agriculture and reduce poverty.
The system is based on a subsidy mechanism whereby the government contributes about 50 percent of fertilisers to reduce the burden to peasants, most of whom cannot afford to purchase the inputs at market prices.
Dr Gabagambi said after the research which was co-funded by MVIWATA, his team went to Nigeria to learn new techniques which would ensure that no fertiliser subsidy is lost.
“We have borrowed a leaf from Nigeria, whereby we want to ensure that the fertiliser subsidy reaches the intended farmers only and not otherwise,” he said.
He said if accepted, the move would save the government money and improve development of other sectors of the economy.
Commenting on the research, a farmer from Babati District in Manyara, Mr Mohammed Hussein said measures should be taken to ensure that the vouchers reach small holder farmers on time as agents often delay in distributing them intentionally to hike prices.
“Use of fertilsers to some parts of country is crucial for increased production, thus access to them is a way to ensure us of food security and eradicating poverty,” he added.
He faulted the current system of distribution saying the long supply chain has resulted to price fluctuations making fertilisers more expensive in Tanzania and more often reach farmers in wrong season.

Members of Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima (MVIWATA), Veronica Sophu and Catherine Gabriel Sisuti, are among the 201 names of Constituent Assembly members appointed by President Jakaya Kikwete.
In the Constituent Assembly, which commences today (February 18) in Dodoma, the two names appears in the list of 13 persons from different NGOs that have been selected by the president to represent farmers interests in the mainland.
The president had designated a total of 20 posts for farmers’ representatives drawn from various farmers’ organisations in the country.
Commenting on that appointment, the MVIWATA Executive Director Stephen Ruvuga said it was an honour seeing their organisation securing two seats out of 157 names submitted by various farmers’ associations.
” It was not an easy thing our members to be appointed, bearing in mind that the number of proposed names was large. This shows the extent that our organisation is respected. We are glad, and we believe to channel farmers’ voice through these two members,” he said.
He however, swiftly faulted the Constitution draft for referring to smallholder farmers as a small group, saying that was not correct since it is well known that farmers make over 75 per cent of the population.
Speaking on how she felt after getting the news on selection, Ms Veronica Sophu, a smallholder farmer from Mbarali, Mbeya, who is also the deputy chairperson for MVIWATA Board, said she was grateful and that she will try her best to represent her fellow small-scale farmers in the Assembly.
On her part, Ms Catherine Gabriel Sisuti, smallholder farmer from Tarime, Mara, said the appointment was a huge task that she will be happy to do by making sure views of her fellow smallholder farmers are heard in the special parliament.
“I am going there with only one agenda, to defend smallholder farmers interests, which did not appear clearly in the constitution draft. We small farmers are victims of any misuse of our nation’s natural resources such as large scale investments on land, which makes us landless,” she said.
Through different meetings, MVIWATA has been participating closely since the new constitution process started and it has capacitated its members to understand their role in making sure that the new constitution expected comprises smallholder farmers rights.
The Constitution Review Act empowers the President to appoint 201 members of the Constituent Assembly drawn from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith-based organisations and all registered political parties.
In the names announced recently following presidential appointment, NGOs submitted 1,647 names, out of which 20 were picked, faith-based organisations submitted 329 but only 20 were selected, registered political parties submitted 42 names of which only 20 made it to the assembly.
Twenty members were selected from institutions of higher learning, which presented 130 names, while 20 were picked from groups of people with special needs, which submitted 140 names.
Workers’ associations submitted 102 names out of which 20 were picked and 10 members were selected from pastoralist communities, which forwarded 47 names.
The President further appointed 20 members from farmers’ associations, which submitted 157 names, 10 from associations representing fishermen that submitted 57 names and another 20 from persons having common interest, who submitted 727 names.