By
ADAM IHUCHA --Some few years back Tanzanians had welcomed a guest from as far
as Netherlands, little knowing that they have received an angel with hidden
treasure.
Rijk Zwaan company, which landed in Arusha was exploring the best place
to invest and bring the world-class technology to produce high quality
horticultural seeds for local and exports markets.
Now the horticultural growers are laughing all the way to the banks,
proving that kindness is never wasted, as Rijk Zwaan is slowly, but surely
transferring the green house technology, quality seeds for high value crops and
skills to local farmers.
Rijk Zwaan, which ranks fifth in the world’s biggest vegetable breeding
companies, earned the first slot in the annual overview of the 100 most
significant companies in Dutch greenhouse horticulture (Hilenraad 100) for 4
years in a row as a result of its approach of investing in technology, skills
and people.
The approach is the brainchild of Rijk Zwaan, who started with a seed
shop and became the founding father of the family property, which dates back to
1920s when he first developed varieties that improved the business of his
customers.
It was this investment in people which earned Mr. Zwaan extra mileage in
the trade as he worked alongside his workers regardless of rank; the legacy to
which Rijk Zwaan adheres to date.
With 30 subsidiaries throughout the world, Rijk Zwaan stands at the base
of the international chain of food production that comprises growers, traders
and retailers.
Rijk Zwaan prides itself in contributing to a food secure and healthy
future.
Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA)’s chief executive officer, Ms
Jacqueline Mkindi is proud of Rijk Zwaan for becoming a real blessing company
to the country’s horticultural industry.
Historically,
greenhouse horticulture in Tanzania started over 20 years ago in the early
1990’s. For years a few foreign and local flower and seed companies producing
for export spearheaded the sector.
Ms Mkindi says very few greenhouses were used for
vegetable farming by Tanzanian farmers.
Since then, small-scale greenhouses became available
through input supply companies and through self-made wooden greenhouses.
With the protected environment in a greenhouse, the
use of improved hybrid seeds became necessary.
So Rijk Zwaan Afrisem has been availing these seeds
for high-end greenhouse cultivation from the mother company Rijk Zwaan’s
portfolio.
Furthermore
Rijk Zwaan Afrisem has been breeding for 7 years now improving African eggplant,
Chinese pepper and African kale for open field production.
From 2016 these will be available commercially.
Around the country more and more farmers turn
professional and start using improved technologies practices such as raised beds, plastic mulching, drip irrigation and greenhouses.
A greenhouse allows controlling the temperature and
humidity, protects a crop from rain and partially from pests and makes
planning and a predictable harvest possible.
About 240 hectares of vegetable farming countrywide now takes place in greenhouses, providing the market with healthy diets while creating a source of income to growers, among others.
Vegetable shortage though, was the bane of Mwanza’s life. Thanks to this
initiative the country’s second largest city is now assured of the side dish
from greenhouses, which have been sprouting in the region since.
Vegetable from Morogoro, Iringa, and Tanga, the regions, which supply
Dar es Salaam with edible leaves, fruits, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems,
or flower parts, could not reach the distant Lake Zone region.
With the introduction of more greenhouses than any other region on its
fringes markets in the lakeside city are now laden with vegetables, prompting
some of the farmers to export their surplus harvest.
Peter Ngongoseke, one of the farmers based in Magu, a
district with easy access to lake water, harvests tomatoes, sweet pepper and
cucumber and sells them on the Dar es Salaam market.
Ngongoseko, who is one of the Rijk Zwaan Afrisem's 600 plus trainees,
owns a farm bordering Lake Victoria with 3 ha of greenhouses.
And in the near future Dar es Salaam too will no longer only rely on
vegetables from the up-country regions as several farmers in the outskirts of
the commercial city have jumped onto the greenhouse bandwagon, Harald Peeters,
the Rijk Zwaan country managing director states.
Motivated by one of the firm’s trainees, most of Dar es Salaam's new
vegetable farmers using greenhouses are seeking the right know-how to maximise
harvests from the use of the greenhouses, he observes.
“A greenhouse alone is not enough,” Peeters, whose firm is a global
specialist in breeding varieties and producing high-quality vegetable seeds,
argues.
Innovative research and development, inspired by the
wishes and tastes of customers plays a pivotal role in Rijk Zwaan’s success.
“A knowledgeable and organised vegetable farmer uses mulching, hybrid
seeds, pest scouting, drip irrigation and fertilising, and Integrated Pest
Management”, Peeters explains.
“He should, in addition, know the time, quantity and quality of produce
his market needs and above all invest in people instead of the hardware alone,”
he adds.
Some inadequately informed farmers in Dar es Salaam have unfortunately
ended up buying greenhouses and recruiting workers they pay meagre wages to
grow the vegetables as they visit them once in a while.
As a result, they found themselves harvesting insignificant quantities
of vegetables whose quality could not fetch good prices enough to recover costs
of buying the greenhouses.
After experiencing the difficulties first hand, the farmers jointly
consulted the 7 year-old Arusha-based Rijk Zwaan Afrisem, which agreed to set
up a demonstration plot in Bagamoyo District, Coast Region.
“In fact, one of the farmers has volunteered his greenhouses to be used
for demonstrations,” says Peeters, cautioning that horticulture was a full time
career rather than a part time job.
These Dar es Salaam vegetable growers are a reflection of most of the
country’s subsistence farmers who never bother with knowledge and often loath
hybrid seeds because they cannot be re-used; forgetting that those seeds have
added value and can guarantee crops with high yields, long shelf life, early
harvest, and protection against pests and diseases.
“Vegetable production calls for skills if farmers are to predict their
bumper harvests and meet their market demands,” says Peeters, adding that the
on-the-job training Rijk Zwaan Afrisem offers its clients, is practical and
current state of the art.
Rijk Zwaan Afrisem also enlightens farmers on the need for analysing
soil and irrigation water in order to raise their vegetable yields.
“Farming is all about precise timing and prediction,” stresses Peeters
whose firm specialises in vegetable seeds and service provision.
The yield potential for hybrid vegetable seeds can give a farmer up to
five times production and income provided he adheres to growing methods.
As urbanisation is projected to rise from 28 to 45 per cent by 2030, the
demand for quality vegetable will continue to grow and prices will become more
lucrative.
“We go into long-term partnerships, you buy our seeds along with
technical know-how and support,” says Peeters, believing a happy farmer is a
returning client.
“We respect our business relations and our environment in all areas of
our work,” he says.
Given the increasing scarcity of arable land, the vulnerability of our
ecosystems to climate change and increasing demand for food, it is paramount
that yields per area unit have to go up.
The use of more sophisticated technology in food production such as
greenhouses, drip irrigation and integrated pest management (IPM), is
inevitable so as to feed the rapidly growing African population, he says.
He was grateful to TAHA for
mobilizing and building institutional capacity and facilitates enabling
environment and technical assistance.
“We have strived to assist peasants
to transact business with exporters in a win-win framework,” Ms Mkindi
explains; adding that the industry now earns the country nearly $500 million
annually, up from a mere $64 million in 2004.
TAHA assists farmers to adopt
standard compliance practices and addresses challenges compounded by
government’s numerous taxes and levies, particularly now Skills Development
Levy and land rent fee.
It also supports investors in
horticulture in the registration of essential horticultural inputs including
pesticides, fertilizers and biological control agents.
Through its logistic firm -- TAHA
Fresh Handling Ltd, the association absorbs costly and time-consuming
cross-border non-tariff barriers to ease the burdens investors face.
TAHA addresses policy and regulatory
hurdles for the industry to thrive, chipped in Policy and advocacy Manager,
Anthony Chamanga.
“We also links
farmers to access Rijk Zwaan hybrid seeds for high crop value crops so that
they can realize booming yields” Mr Chamanga notes.
He
further says that TAHA promotes greenhouse technology, to increase crop
productivity.
Indeed,
through TAHA efforts, several farmers in Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Mwanza have
adopted the technology.
Special
technology for low-altitude areas such as Zanzibar and Dar is also available.
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