An Action Plan for Developing Agricultural Input Markets in Tanzania

addressing the weaknesses in the current institutions
offering input credit to smallholder farmers (SACOS
and SACAS). It is also important to train dealers to
extend credit to farmers. However, in order to do so,
dealers will need better access to credit. Therefore,
importers and bankers will also have to be targeted for
training in extending credit to dealers.
Conduct Research on Actellic Super Dust—It is
imperative that TPRI and the MAFS do research to
determine the extent and cause of the problem of ineffective
actellic super dust otherwise the grain borer will
continue to threaten the food security of maizedependent
farmers.
Other Measures to Improve the
Performance of the CPP Market
Introduce Changes to Improve the Regulatory
Framework—Tanzania has an impressive regulatory
framework in place for CPPs, but the institution responsible
for enforcement, TPRI, is constrained by a
lack of human and financial resources. There is a need
to reassign responsibilities in order to increase efficiency,
clarify the roles of the various regulatory bodies,
and simplify the legal and regulatory framework to
make it easy to implement. Suggestions in this regard
are as follows:
• Product registration, monitoring, and enforcement
should remain the responsibility of TPRI. In this regard,
the ongoing revision of the 1997 Act should
be expedited in order to reduce the time required
for registration.
• The inspection duties performed by COTECNA
(quantity) and TPRI (quality) need to be published
and made available to stakeholders to clarify the role
of these institutions in the CPP industry.
• Training and education should be the responsibility
of the MAFS in collaboration with AAT.
• Data collection and dissemination should be taken
over by the market information unit in the MAFS.
• Truth-in-labeling should be the responsibility of the
Tanzania Bureau of Standards.
• TPRI should invest more resources in monitoring
and enforcement in the distribution system. In order
to ensure broader coverage TPRI should authorize
some other institutions (e.g., district officers and
extension workers in the MAFS) to carry out some
of its inspectorate responsibilities.
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The implementation of these changes would require
the amendment of the law and accompanying regulations
accordingly.
Establish a Market Information Unit—Market
information is essential for public monitoring of market
conditions and policy analyses, and improving transparency
thereby promoting competition and long-distance
trade. While this is primarily the responsibility
of the DPHS of the MAFS, the private sector has an
important role to play by making information available
to the public sector. The specific recommendations
are as follows:
• Every importer and dealer should be required to send
data on prices and quantities imported and distributed
to a (newly created) market information unit in
the DPHS on a regular basis. This would require
reviewing the 1997 Act and making it mandatory
for the private sector to submit such data in order to
renew their import permit or business license.
• The DPHS should periodically disseminate market
information to importers, dealers, and farmers to
enable them to make better decisions about procurement.
The information should be categorized according
to the needs of the particular interest group. The
appropriate medium will be determined by the DPHS
and may include the radio, a monthly newsletter that
is distributed at the district level, and/or the Internet.
One specific suggestion is for the Farmer’s Gazette
to include information on the CPP market.
· TPRI should make the list of the registered pesticides
and importers and dealers available on the
Internet and distribute it to all registered CPP businesses
annually. This list should be regularly updated.
· MAFS and AAT should work together to establish
and operate this unit.
· Information should be disseminated about health and
environmental impacts of the CPPs.
Regional Harmonization of CPP Legislation and
Legalization of Cross-Border Trade—Regional harmonization
of CPP policies and regulations, particularly
registration procedures, can increase the availability
of cheaper and legitimate, and possibly more suitable
CPPs in Tanzania thus reducing farmer demand for fake
and adulterated CPPs which are typically sold at half
the price of registered products.