FAO and Indonesia explore ways to boost South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Tanzania

8/03/2024 Tanzania – Recognizing Indonesia’s valuable technical know-how and development experience in the agriculture sector over the years, which has benefited many countries in the Global South, FAO colleagues from the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division met with Indonesia counterparts in Tanzania to discuss ways to strengthen their collaborations.  

In his visit to the Mkindo Farmer’s Agriculture and Rural Training Center (FARTC), Mr Kenya Konno, Programme Officer, South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division of FAO, acknowledged Indonesia’s South-South Cooperation long standing contributions in the agriculture sector to support Tanzania and neighboring African countries. He also stressed the importance of having the center in Morogoro, being a strategic area for rice production and tropical agriculture. 

FARTC was established in 1996, as one of the components of South-South Cooperation between Tanzania and Indonesia, in order to transfer appropriate agricultural technologies. 

FAO counterparts met with Mr Gration Kailembo, Principal of FARTC, who provided information about the history and activities of the center. In his presentation, Mr Kailembo informed FAO colleagues that the training center had been hosting, in the past, a number of capacity building trainings for agricultural officers coming from neighboring countries such as Egypt, Gambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe in addition to Tanzania, with the support of experts dispatched from Indonesia.

Along with FAO colleagues, Ms Michaila Shahnez Natasha, Politics and Sociocultural Affairs Officer from the Indonesian Embassy in Dar es Salaam, also participated in the farmers’ field training, organized through FAO’s Rice Value Chain Project.

Following his visit to the center, Mr Konno had a meeting with Indonesian Ambassador to Tanzania, H.E. Tri Yogo Jatmiko. “Tanzania is a key African country for Indonesia, and we believe that there is a strong ongoing momentum of cooperation. In August last year Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Tanzania, followed by the Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to Indonesia in January this year. Indonesia has a lot to offer from our previous experiences to support Tanzania,” said Ambassador Yogo during the meeting.

Further discussions followed with His Excellency on a number of joint South-South cooperation activities in Tanzania.  

 “Indonesia has excellent technical expertise, especially in fisheries and aquaculture, livestock and tropical agriculture. Tanzania can immensely benefit from this know-how.  FAO has also strong expertise in implementing training activities effectively in the field. This can be gladly shared with Indonesia to support its efforts on South-South Cooperation” said Mr Konno.

At the end of the meeting, His Excellency was invited to meet with Ms Tipo, FAO Representative in Tanzania and his team to further discuss the joint South-South collaboration.