TANZANIA has clung on to the second slot country in terms of largest livestock population in the African continent, show newly released statistics.
The new livestock data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in Mwanza yesterday showed that Tanzania boasts an estimated total of 33.9 million cattle with Ethiopia leading with 60.39 million cattle.
Cognisant of its livestock richness, the government of Tanzania has turned its focus on improving the sector by expanding the market for meat, skin and hides in and outside its borders.
Contained in the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Preliminary Report on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Census for 2019/2020, the new data also highlight the number of other livestock such as sheep and goats as well as crop production.
NBS Director General, Dr Albina Chuwa said that researchers/ statisticians also found small farmers having 24.5 million goats while large-scale farmers had 33,347 million.
“In the survey conducted, peasants were found with 8.5 million sheeps while large-scale farmers had 24.236 million. Again, peasants were found with 3.2 million pigs while large-scale farmers had 5.153 million,” she said.
In the survey, it was also established that the country had a total of 87.7 million chickens out of which 75.1 million were possessed by small holder farmers while 12.6 million were being kept by large scale farmers.
Equally, it was found in the survey that 3.1 billion and 53.1million liters of cow and goat milk, respectively, were produced by the small holder farmers while spray-type of drugs and dipping were mentioned as the methods that were used to control ticks on livestock.
The Census Report further showed that about 30,261 households were found engaging in fish farming activities with 21,704 families, equivalent to 71.7 per cent farming Tilapia, producing 10, 690 tonnes.
On the side of cereal-related crops, she said, about 9.1 million tonnes of maize, rice and sorghum were produced, of which 5.7 million tonnes, equivalent to 62.5 per cent were maize while 2.9 million tonnes, equivalent to 32.1 per cent were rice.
Sorghum recorded 488,724 tonnes, equivalent to 5.4 per cent. About 1.6 million tonnes of cassava, sweet and Irish potatoes as well as 599,461 million tonnes of oil seeds were also produced, according to the NBS boss.
“For commercial crops, coffee recorded 92,396 tonnes while tea recorded 40,611 tonnes. While cotton recorded 445,972 tonnes, Cloves recorded 3,378 tonnes.
The Census also shows that about 13.5 million hectares were tilled for various crops, with 76.7 per cent using traditional seeds and 20.8 per cent applying modern seeds.
About 2.5 per cent of the land was farmed with the application of both traditional and modern seeds.
The Census Coordinator in Zanzibar, Mr Mwalimu Juma Mohammed said that there were positive changes in all the researched areas (in the Isles) compared to the situation seen ten years back (2007/2018), when the Census was conducted.
He cited an example of the increase in the number of small farmers, from 32,000 households to over nearly 200,000, equal to 57 per cent, as well as an increase in cattle, from 155,624 to 270,457 as of now.
“We found improvements in all areas, with farmers citing availability of farm inputs among the factors. Some relevant authorities have been also providing regular public education, directing farmers what to do in a certain area,” said the Coordinator.