(CNN) Tanzania's President John Magufuli has told women in the East African nation to stop taking birth control pills because the country needs more people, according to local media reports.

"Women can now give up contraceptive methods," Magufuli said.

"Those going for family planning are lazy ... they are afraid they will not be able to feed their children. They do not want to work hard to feed a large family and that is why they opt for birth controls and end up with one or two children only," he said at a public rally on Sunday.

He was quoted in a local newspaper, The Citizen, as saying that those advocating for birth control were foreign and had sinister motives.

Magufuli urged citizens to keep reproducing as the government was investing in maternal health and opening new district hospitals.