Empowering smallholder farmers in Tanzania to increase productivity and promote food security.

Background

Despite low rice yield levels in Tanzania, the country is the leading producer in Eastern and Southern Africa. Given that this business is dominated by smallholder farmers and that the country is endowed with extensive landscapes suitable for rice production coupled with a high domestic and foreign potential market, there is an urgent need to enhance the yield as a key to promote food security from household to national and international levels. This paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of empowering smallholder farmers as a strategy for identifying and applying improved rice husbandry technologies in a holistic and integrated manner by employing a Farmer Field School (FFS) approach.

Methods

The study was conducted in two sample villages, namely Kipera Njiapanda in the Morogoro region and Bwawani Visegese in the Pwani region, where culturally and ecologically rice is grown. The FFS approach was applied with the involvement of smallholders and local authorities to develop innovative ways to increase yield and promote food security. Data and information on current rice farming practices were collected using FFS participants and qualitatively analyzed at each rice production stage.

Results

Findings revealed that farmers’ socioeconomic conditions varied, thus reflecting differences in farm size, crop husbandry and associated yield as well as in non-market production along with consumption and/or market exchange. The FFS approach demonstrated that community participatory processes have the capacity to create conducive conditions for empowering smallholders to identify their rice production problems and opportunities related to access to technical and financial support in the realm of seedbed preparation and irrigation, including pest and disease control and crop marketing.

Conclusion

The FFS approach is a robust tool for the identification of problems/challenges as well as pertinent opportunities to increase rice yield and promote food security. The paper calls for support from development partners in managing the rice production systems at all stages in the production cycle given the current potential of both the smallholder farmers and the arable land to increase rice yield, reduce poverty and promote food security at household, national and international levels.

READ MORE
ENVIROMENT

Tanzania’s water and sanitation crisis

Tanzania’s water and sanitation crisis

4 million people in Tanzania lack access to an improved source of safe water, and 30 million don’t have access to improved sanitation. People living under these circumstances, particularly women and girls, spend a significant amount of time traveling long distances to collect water. In Tanzania, demand for both water and sanitation are high and the market for water products (storage tanks, pipes, rain harvesting facilities, etc.) and suppliers appears to be dynamic. By taking advantage of the growing digital finance sector, there is a strong opportunity to scale our impact in Tanzania. In Tanzania and around the world, people are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, and millions are striving to endure this crisis with an added challenge. They lack access to life’s most critical resource – water. Now more than ever access to safe water is critical to the health of families in Tanzania.

Our impact in Tanzania

In 2016, Water.org facilitated a Tanzania market assessment to evaluate the country’s readiness for our Water Credit solution. Results found that Tanzania offers a significant market opportunity and demand to launch Water Credit due to its fast-growing economy and use of digital finance.

We began piloting water and sanitation lending programs with a commercial bank, Equity Bank Tanzania, in September 2017. Through this direct lending partnership, Water.org equipped Equity Bank with the knowledge and skills needed to deploy small, affordable water and sanitation loans to households living in poverty as well as larger, corporate loans to water and sewerage

We’ve since expanded our partnerships with local financial institutions, increasing the availability of loans for water supply and sanitation services, and helping more people solve their water crisis.

Currently we are exploring working directly with water service providers at the community level to enable them to provide household financing options such as payment plans or small loans. This will help reach new households in need while expanding the business development opportunities and customer base for the utilities.

Water for his family and his village

Bakari is a young man who lives in rural Tanzania south of Dar es Salaam with his parents and siblings. Growing up in this region Bakari is all too familiar with the water crisis. Read more about how Bakari solved his family’s water crisis and that of many in his village

READ MORE
Children

Water Problem in Africa

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincid unt ut laoreet dolore. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

READ MORE
AGRICULTURE

Creative Green Solutions

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincid unt ut laoreet dolore. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

READ MORE
AGRICULTURE

Poor Children Donation

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincid unt ut laoreet dolore. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

READ MORE
Children

Water Problem in Africa

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincid unt ut laoreet dolore. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

READ MORE
Nation

Creative Green Solutions

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincid unt ut laoreet dolore. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

READ MORE
AGRICULTURE

Poor Children Donation

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincid unt ut laoreet dolore. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

READ MORE
ENVIROMENT

Water Problem in Africa

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincid unt ut laoreet dolore. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

READ MORE
Water

Creative Green Solutions

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincid unt ut laoreet dolore. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

READ MORE
  • 1
  • 2
error: Content is protected !!