By Sifa Lubasi, Dodoma

GRAPE farmers in Dodoma region have been urged to increase productivity in order to attract more investors to strategic crops such as grapes.

An agricultural economist from the Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP), Dr Rodgers Lumenyela, said this yesterday during a training session for farmers on canopy-based grape production organized by CultivAid organization, held at a demonstration farm known as the Agricultural Motivation and Technology Centre (AITEC) located at Don Bosco Dodoma.

The farmers who received this training were from Makang’wa and Mvumi Makulu villages in Chamwino District.

He said that many farmers have been citing challenges on the marketing side, but what is needed is to increase production in order to attract investors, because when there are sufficient processing plants, farmers will have guaranteed markets.

“In markets there is something called a thin market, resulting from low production. Today when someone says they want 200 tonnes of fresh grapes, they are not available—this is characteristic of a thin market. The product appears to be available, but even the person seeking it cannot find it, ends up making losses and does not return,” he said.

He said what is needed from farmers is to increase production so that when a buyer says they want 200 tonnes, they can get it.

He said they have been teaching farmers about strategic plans to achieve productive output.

He said that IRDP and CultivAid will continue to collaborate with the Government to ensure farmers increase production and eventually have small processing plants, even for extracting grape juice, contract farming, and having factories that will buy grapes directly from farmers.

For his part, the Field Officer from the Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA), Joseph Malimwengu, said they have been assisting farmers to enable them to produce productively and professionally in order to meet international market standards.

He said that in grape production, what they are doing is selecting quality seeds.

Meanwhile, a grape farmer from Mvumi Makulu village, Peter Maisel, said the training will make him a better farmer.

Another farmer, Anna Lubote, said that in rural areas the grape market is still difficult because those who come to buy are middlemen.

“When they come, they select what they want and leave you with the rest; you cannot even sell them again,” she said.

She also said that as a farmer she has learned how to properly manage grape vines.

“We used to not prune, and the grape vine would become like a forest; now we have learned to prune the grape vine,” she said.

CultivAid Resident Director Eldad Barbar said the training involved 100 farmers, where farmers learned best farming practices alongside modern agricultural technologies and the use of fertilizers.

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