By ADAM IHUCHA —Struggling to irrigate his horticulture
farm at Selela village in Monduli just outside Arusha, in northern Tanzania,
Cuthbert Meena, is a brokenhearted-old man.
Mr Meena, a seasoned
farmer, has fought so many battles in his 56 years of life, probably a very
long life by African standards, but today he is frustrated, worrying about the
future of his occupational.
“Nowadays,
rain falls when it should not, and does not come when it should" Mr Meena
says, adding that to make the matters worse, a short-lived redeemer -- the
USAID funded Tanzania Agriculture Productivity Program (TAPP) also came to an
end.
He says that the
project had not only introduced modern technologies, but also enabled them to build
a dam where they harvest rainwaters for irrigation purposes through out of the
year.
Indeed, for the last
five years or so, the USAID-TAPP has been imparting thousands of farmers with
modern agricultural skills and introducing modern technologies to bolster yields
in the height of climate change.
“I’m not worried only for myself, but the
USAID-TAPP has been paying more attention to us farmers. For instance, it has
introduced drip irrigation for thousands of smallholder farmers to mitigate
climate change effects,” he
explains.
Mr Meena voice
anchored by other farmers such as Daniel Mtiri from Morogoro, Deogratius Masao
from Mpwapwa in Dodoma and Victor Myanda in Kilolo, Iringa, who now trying to
imagine life without the USAID-TAPP project.
“This project has
transformed our agriculture through skills and modern technologies so now we
don’t know how life will be treating us after the USAID-TAPP” says Mr Victor
Myanda from Kilolo in iringa.
The TAPP started in September of 2009,
and it ended on the 26th August 2015. It was funded by the USAID as part of the
Feed the Future initiative.
TAPP worked to increase smallholder
incomes, improve nutrition, and expand markets in the multi-million dollars horticulture
subsector. A sector, which has been showing high growth, rates, especially in
the last five years.
In its lifespan, the project reached
over 40,000 households, and covered the Northern regions of Arusha, Kilimanjaro
and Manyara; the Eastern regions of Tanga, Dar Es Salaam, Coast, Zanzibar and
Morogoro; and the Central / Southern Highlands regions of Dodoma, Iringa,
Njombe and Mbeya.
The project worked closely with
smallholder farmers and industry stakeholders, raising productivity and incomes
across the value chain from farm to market, while raising awareness of the
nutritional challenges and addressing these.
USAID-TAPP Chief of party, Antonio
Coello is humbled that his project recorded a number of achievements, as it has
touched lives of thousands of farmers, improved technology adoption rate and
enhanced productivity.
“The
data speaks volumes on project accomplishments that include a 148 percent
increase in yields of targeted products” Mr Coello explains.
Before TAPP support, farmers used to
harvest 9 tons per hectare as an average of selected horticulture crops, but by
the end of the project, their output averaged 22.3 tons per hectare; equivalent
to 243 percent increase in gross margins.
As a result nearly $39.04 million in
incremental sales from participating smallholder farmers collected at
farm-level, he says.
A total of 85 percent of project
farmers are now applying at least one improved technology or management
practice in their farms, Mr Coello notes, adding 14,421 hectares of
horticultural crops are now under improved technologies.
In the list of key achievements there
are 138,404 trained individuals in terms of modern farming, whereas in health
and nutrition, USAID – TAPP supported10, 703 beneficiaries with access to home
or community gardens.
“The project went extra mile by
reaching out 68,170 individuals with HIV prevention interventions” he stresses.
Local partnerships have been a critical
piece in USAID-TAPP’s strategy in building a productive, efficient, and
profitable horticulture sector for smallholder farmers.
Through these partnerships significant
market opportunities were created for smallholders in local and export
markets—both for fresh and processed products.
Results from the partnership program
include 23,000 direct beneficiaries, 40,000 individuals trained, private sector
investment of $6.8 million, and more than $26 million in incremental sales.
Challenges
USAID-TAPP Deputy Chief of Party, Dr
Richard Pluke says that the horticulture sector remains a very attractive and
profitable sector with great opportunities for growth for the upcoming years.
However, Dr Pluke says, there are still
numerous challenges in the industry, key among them is that smallholder farmers
are willing to adopt new technologies, but they lack the knowledge and
awareness of how to apply them.
“For instance, he argues, currently,
the government extension workers and select projects working in this field are
only able to reach a limited number of horticulture farmers, so the demand for
training and knowledge is much higher than what the organizations (government
or non government) are able to supply.
Smallholder farmer’s still lack
availability of high quality inputs in high potential areas, such as Iringa,
Njombe, Mbeya, Morogoro, Zanzibar, Dodoma, a move that frustrate their efforts.
He further says that quality of inputs
needs to be closely monitored by authorities as there are numerous agro-dealers
selling low quality or fake inputs, which are seriously affecting the farmer’s
capacity to thrive.
“Access to capital for both cost of
production as well as small investments in infrastructure such as wells,
boreholes for access to water, and irrigation equipment are also challenges
facing the farmers” Dr. Pluke notes.
Partnership
One
of the key partners with TAPP was Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA), an
apex body for the multi-million-industry in Tanzania.
Commenting,
TAHA CEO, Ms Jacqueline Mkindi says; “Oooh Yes,... our partnership with Fintrac,
the USAID Contractor for TAPP project, is one of its own kind and started long time
ago in 2007. We have a long but very good history and memories around this
marriage, starting from the implementation of the TAP to the currently winding
TAPP”.
According
to Ms Mkindi, who is a 2015 women achievement prestigious award winner on
agriculture category, TAHA used to be a USAID-Fintrac sub-grantee until when it
graduated to stand on its own and manage a direct grant with USAID.
“This
alone tells a lot…..for a local organization to be able to implement a direct
USAID grant, means the institutional capacity and systems are right. TAHA is
actually the first local organization to secure and manage direct grant from
the USAID” she explains.
Ms Mkindi further says that Fintrac therefore contributed
significantly in building TAHA capacity in various ways. Indeed over the years,
TAHA gained a lot from the interaction with senior Fintrac officials like Dr.
Steve New, Kimberly, Laura and Tom Closbatch before, during and after signing the
award with USAID.
Not to mention the relationship with TAPP technical team, TAHA
boss notes, adding that they have been working as children of the same family
benefiting from their different strengths in addressing various issues.
“I remember when we were applying for the USAID grant, I
requested Fintrac to second Dr. Richard Pluke to TAHA to technically assist us
in that process…. And I did not believe it when I received that email from
Fintrac that my request was granted. Richard therefore assisted us a lot in
building our internal systems. And that helped us tremendously” she recalls.
Speaking of Antonio, Ms
Mkindi says, he is just awesome!
“He is such a transformative leader who is able to very well
integrate his strong technical and management skills. I mean, it has been
exciting and rewarding to work with the Fintrac staff right from those in the
field to the top officials in Washington DC. I personally find them to be very
supportive and professional” TAHA CEO observes.
Ms Mkindi reveals that TAHA haS recruited some staff from
Fintrac, who have been very well trained, and this has been part of
sustainability of TAPP.
Specific objectives to
achieve while working with Fintrac on Mboga Matunda (vegetable and fruits) area,
enhancement of business enabling environment, access to reliable, equitable, profitable markets and other trade
facilitation issues as well as on logistics and information dissemination.
TAHA
has significantly grown in the past few years, and it has also enhanced its
services to the industry mainly in the area of advocacy, technical support and
market access and trade facilitation.
TAHA
has also expanded its membership and partnership base across the country and in
the region. Its advocacy interventions, for example, have been implemented
beyond the Tanzania borders as it has been working to address the various cross
border trade issues.
“So
generally the organization has gained more muscles as a true voicing platform
and a representative of the horticultural industry in Tanzania” Ms Mkindi.
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