Dar es Salaam. Avocado is a fruit crop that thrives in many parts of Tanzania, with the possibility of using it to free Tanzanians from abject poverty and improve families’ levels of nutrition.

Mbeya, Njombe, Songwe, Iringa, Tanga, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Kigoma, Kagera, Katavi and Morogoro are popular regions for avocado production in the land.

A report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says that 19,449 tonnes of avocados were produced in 2016/17.

Gender inequality doesn't make sense on any level.

By marginalising women, we deny ourselves the opportunity to lift millions of men, women and children out of poverty. Not to mention the chance of a just and fair world.

From birth, girls, boys, women and men are expected by society to play certain roles and behave in certain ways, based on traditions, religion, and other beliefs.

These behaviours are learned and shaped by the gender norms in a society.

Land grabs facilitated by multinational corporations, foreign investors and local governments in a pursuit for agribusiness have been escalating during the last decade. Huge acquisitions of farmland have led to violent displacements of rural populations. Although reports of the practice are not as recurrent in the media, the problem is far from over.

AS President Samia Suluhu Hassan meets representative of various groups of Tanzanian society, herders have come out with a call that they should not be forgotten because they have longstanding pressing issues worthy of a presidential audience.

He said such a meeting will enable the president to recognize their plight including in being disregarded by political leaders who hand out wrong instructions to them as if livestock keeping activities have no contribution to the national economy.

Kiryandongo – Uganda – As natives continue to resist illegal evictions, multinational companies opt to hire livestock as a new tactic to forcefully evict smallholder farmers from their land.

Timothy Njakasi, a vastly experienced agronomist, is an organic farmer with an unconventional outlook.

Kasenge Riverford Organic Agricultural Centre is located near Mbalala stone quarry in Mukono District, an infertile stony piece of land about 30km on Kampala-Jinja Highway.

Njakasi’s farm, which acts as a demonstration farm, is the last arable piece of land as you ascend the hill to the quarry.

PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has revoked title deeds in respect of 11 farms with a total of 24,119 acres in Kilosa District, Morogoro Region which would be allocated to the people to be used for various activities including farming and livestock keeping

The president has also endorsed the revival of 49 farms on 45,788.5 acres that were nationalized, but the residents had no certainty of their status to the now dormant farmland, where a huge chunk of the farmland will be allocated to residents in the area for farming purposes.

Dodoma. The ministry of Agriculture yesterday outlined seven areas the government will prioritise in the 2021/22 financial year to boost growth of the key economic sector.

They include research, seed development and extension services. Others are increasing the size of land for irrigation farming, strengthening markets for agricultural crops, improving access to inexpensive loans for funding agricultural, and improving preparedness against invasion of pests and crop diseases.

In Uganda, more women (88 per cent) than men (78 per cent) are primarily engaged in agriculture [UBOS 2020]. Yet, women working in agriculture face more challenges than their male counterparts. 

This is in part due to discriminatory gender norms which are limiting women’s access to productive resources such as land, labour, equipment and economic capital.  Dismantling stereotypes about women’s work within the agricultural sector is, therefore, vital to improve agricultural productivity in Uganda and spur development. 

Livestock farmers in Gomba District have asked Parliament to swiftly intervene and block attempts by National Forestry Authority (NFA) to parcel out the remaining part of two central forest reserves of Kalombe and Nsowe to private investors.
NFA is mandated to manage all central forest reserves in the country.

Kampala (Agenzia Fides) – “The situation is getting worse as residents of entire regions are forcibly evicted from their lands. Forced evictions are a clear indication of violations of people’s rights,” according to a report by the Dennis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI), a research organization sponsored by the Conference of Southern Bishops African (SACBC), on the acts of land seizure at the expense of the local population on the grounds of the Gulu Parish in Northern Uganda.

7,500 families have been saved from mass evictions by Kenya Defence Forces 78 Battalion.

A report by Nation on Sunday, May 16, indicated that KDF was stopped from carrying out further evictions on the 17,000-acre parcel of land located in Tigania East, Meru County.

The freeze orders were issued by the Land and Environment Court in a case filed by 13 of the victims.

The team moved to court at the beginning of May to protest the move by KDF to take over the parcel arguing at the time that the battalion had begun the process of evicting residents.