AFTER successfully transforming youth participation in agriculture, CCM presidential candidate Samia Suluhu Hassan has pledged to direct efforts towards empowering young people in smart livestock keeping, a modern and technology-driven approach to animal rearing aimed at boosting productivity and income.

Speaking during her campaign rally in Muleba today, Samia said the initiative will build upon the government’s ongoing success under the Building a Better Tomorrow – Youth in Agribusiness Initiative (BBT-YIA), which has already enabled thousands of young Tanzanians to venture into profitable agribusinesses.

“The people of Kagera are well known for their hard work in agriculture, fishing and livestock keeping,” Samia said. “In the past five years, my government has invested heavily in the production sectors—agriculture, fisheries and livestock, as well as in social services. Now we are advancing to support youth in modern livestock keeping using smart technologies.

Under the BBT-YIA programme, she said, 300 young farmers in Makongola Village in Muleba have benefited from large-scale coffee and banana plantations covering 300 acres, which have improved livelihoods and encouraged more youth to view agriculture as a business. She added that her government has also strengthened coffee seedling production and improved local markets to increase output and farmers’ earnings.