Ban on rice import still in place to boost production: Tanzanian minister

The ban on import of rice and other food crops hasn't been lifted by Tanzanian government, a media report by Xinhua said on Wednesday quoting a deputy minister.

"To protect local farmers from a competitive market suffocated by cheap imports, the government will continue to make sure that there are no imports of rice in the country," said Deputy Minister for Agriculture Hussein Bashe.

He was addressing a meeting on boosting rice production. 

“Tanzania is currently producing one million tonnes of rice annually and our strategy should focus on producing three to four million tonnes of rice annually,” Bashe told the meeting.

He also acknowledged the need for "heavy investment" in irrigation farming and the production of high-quality seeds, according to the report.

Rice is the second most cultivated food and commercial crop in Tanzania after maize, with a cultivated area of about 681,000 hectares, which represents 18 percent of the cultivated land.

However, yields are generally very low, at between one and one and a half tonnes per hectare, due to the use of mostly traditional farming methods.