Make good use of land, urges Mkapa
FORMER president Benjamin Mkapa has
called on leaders in developing countries to consider proper land use in
the overall effort to alleviate poverty and increase food security.
Mr Mkapa made the call on Thursday in
Dar es Salaam during the dialogue on ‘The return of developmental
state,’ which was held at the Commission of Science and Technology
(COSTECH).
He said as land remains the key factor
for development in most countries, the government should perform its
central task of alleviating poverty through proper use of natural
resources, which include land.
“The central task of government is to
alleviate poverty; it must, therefore, devise policies, organise people,
deploy resources to fight poverty and open economic opportunities for
the people,” he appealed.
He added that states must fight poverty
and build economic structures and forms of economic ownership of
resources that promote growth and industrialisation in equity as the
vast majority of citizens are peasant, farmers and livestock keepers.
“The biggest asset and factor for the
development of the poor is their land in their quest for food production
and income generation, but they must have security of tenure, be it
perpetual freehold ownership or land use leasing and tilling,” said the
former president. On land, he also noted that there were other resources
such as forests and mineral deposits.
‘’There should be a legal regime for the sharing of venues from the national exploitation of these resources,” he recommended.
Mr Mkapa urged the agencies to provide
development capital to the rural societies in addition to facilitating
availability of modern equipment and technologies, including fertiliser.
According to him, development strategies
tend to assume that the poor only want to take and have nothing to
contribute, which is contrary to the spirit of self-reliance.
“If the public and authorities embrace
this attitude, it will engender culture-dependence on central government
and dependence on foreign aid,” he stressed, adding that people do want
to develop themselves as individuals and in communities, the former
head of state observed.
Mr Mkapa also commented that progressive
countries required a development-oriented leadership and an ethical
code, in addition to desisting from self-agrandisement and coming down
heavily on corruption.
“It is the responsibility of national
and global leaders to enlarge the circle of opportunity and extend the
reach of protection - not by replicating the projector of rich
countries, but by finding means that enable every country to chart its
own path,” he concluded.
