THE Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) has launched a strategic project to produce and distribute 600 tonnes of high-yielding sugar cane seeds to farmers.

Dr Nessie Luambano, manager of TARI Kibaha, said at the official launch of the project over the weekend that the remarkable seed types are disease-free and drought-tolerant sugarcane varieties, identified as Tarica 1, Tarica 2 and R 570, expected to enhance sugar production and address the shortage of quality sugar cane seeds in the market.

This initiative began during fiscal 2023/2024 as part of a national strategy to boost sugar production, a joint venture with Mkulazi Holding Co. and farmers in Kilosa District, Morogoro Region, she said, underlining that Tanzania faces periodic gaps in sugar production owing to limited access to high-yielding sugar cane seed varieties.

Sugar production stands at 482,048 tonnes annually, with actual demand pegged at 722,000 tonnes, she asserted, noting that 482,000 tonnes needs relate to brown sugar for domestic consumption while at least 240,000 tonnage is needed for industrial sugar.

The government tasked TARI Kibaha with conducting research and developing high-quality seed varieties with a view to enabling wider sugar production, with the facility successfully developing two promising varieties, namely Tarica 1 and Tarica 2.

The varieties were synthesised through advanced laboratory procedures, including sorting out tissue culture bottlenecks to maximize their yield potential, she said, elaborating that 33 sugarcane farmers and extension officers in seven Kilosa District villages were supplied with the new seed varieties to multiply them and distribute to other farmers.

TARI Kibaha has trained the farmers on essential farm practices for sugar cane seeds  production, she stated, while Robert Mlimi, an agricultural officer at the facility, noted that the training focused on seed selection for rain fed and irrigated varieties, site selection, land preparation, planting methods and fertiliser application.

The farmers were put to instructions on handling sugarcane diseases, to identify and control common diseases such as SMUT and ratoon stunting disease (RSD), as well as pests like elana, white grub, white scale and yellow sugarcane aphids (YSA), he further stated.

The three-day training with classroom and site sessions was held at the holding company's 'Nursery A' sugarcane estate covering ten acres.

Dr Mariam Mtunguja, the facility’s sugarcane production coordinator, emphasised the importance of the beneficiary farmers using the training to methodically multiply the seeds, encouraging the farmers to approach the project with a view to attaining the targeted seedcane tonnage, also becoming trainers for other farmers.

The selected farmers are members of Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS), each holding at least one acre of land suitable for sugarcane cultivation and committed to becoming seed producers, she said.

The farmers were happy with the exposure, expressing readiness to the project to meet the set targets, with Salome Mbilinyi, a beneficiary from Mbigiri AMCOS, said the farmers expect the seeds to increase sugarcane yields to at least 80 tonmes per acre.

Emmanuel Mhahe, a beneficiary from Makiwami AMCOS, said that participating farmers are dedicated to producing the required seedcane tonnage.

Tanzania, a middle ranking sugar producer in East Africa, aims to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production within the current financial year, with sugarcane production concentrated in Morogoro, Kagera and Kilimanjaro regions, he added.