Aga Khan’s Sh7bn project to generate new 5,000 jobs

What you need to know:

Known as ‘Kilimo ni Biashara’, the project will involve mobilising farmers to create value chains. It focuses on vegetables, chickens, eggs, pulses and rice

Dar es Salaam. The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is implementing an agro-business project that will create 200 enterprises and generate at least 5,000 jobs in Lindi and Mtwara regions.

The AKF senior programme officer for Enterprise and Economic Development, Ms Tahira Nizari, told The Citizen here yesterday that the three-year project was launched on Monday this week.

At least 3.1 million euros (Sh7.2 billion) will be injected into the project.

Of the 5,000 farmers, 2,000 will be women. At least 400 people will be brought into jobs, and at least 200 businesses will be established and supported.

“We will train smallholder farmers to engage in agribusiness projects for generating incomes for their households,” said Ms Nizari.

Financed by UKaid, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the LNG Plant Project and the German government, the project’s long-term plan is to create value chain in agriculture, AKF country manager Abid Mallick said in a statement.

Known as ‘Kilimo ni Biashara’, the project will involve mobilising farmers to create value chains. It focuses on vegetables, chickens, eggs, pulses and rice.

“The project will organise and train farmers to work as producer businesses to produce required volumes and quality of these items for targeted markets,” reads the statement.

The project is aimed at catalysing micro, small and medium enterprises along the food value chain, including input supply businesses, storage and collection enterprises, packaging services, and processing facilities such as drying, milling and safe abattoir for chicken.

Target consumers include natural resource companies for local procurement of food and with local content plans, catering companies, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, and other types of buyers (exporters, processors), according to the statement.