ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania is working on strategies to increase production of sunflower, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Stella Manyanya, Tanzania's deputy minister for industries and trade said that production of sunflower are expected to increase from 768,188 tonnes in 2017/2018 to 1,500,000 tonnes in 2020/2022.
"As at now there is shortage of raw products from sunflower and wheat as the crops can only serve 40 percent of the needed capacity," she said, adding that the government allows importation from other countries.
The deputy minister was responding to a question by the Nsimbo MP, Richard Mbogo, who had argued that a lot of food stuffs, including wheat flour, cooking oil, juice and others, use a lot of raw materials from outside the country, affecting the country's foreign currency stability.
The deputy minister said that the government will continue inviting investors from within the country to invest in agricultural sector, especially on production of strategic crops.
She named the crops as sunflower, sesame, palms and cotton which are important in production of edible oil, among others.
