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How $24 million project can create horticulture millionaires
What you need to know:
- Unveiled at the climax of the Nane Nane Agricultural Fair in Mbeya on Tuesday, the five-year, $24 million initiative will be executed by Taha and SAGCOT
Mbeya. The newly unveiled $24 million food security initiative Tuhifadhi Chakula, backed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is poised to uplift small-scale farmers into dollar millionaires in the coming years, a key implementer has said.
Unveiled at the climax of the Nane Nane Agricultural Fair in Mbeya on Tuesday, the five-year, $24 million initiative will be executed by the Tanzania Horticulture Association (Taha) in partnership with the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Centre.
“This is a defining moment. We can’t thank the American people enough for their generous hearts towards Tanzanians. The USAID’s grand project is set to breed dollar millionaires in the near future,” Taha CEO Ms Jacqueline Mkindi said.
She noted that the initiative, the biggest ever, is a significant leap for Tanzania’s painstaking efforts to shift from conventional subsistence farming to commercial farming in a bid to entice youth and women to engage in order to fight poverty.
The project, Ms Mkindi said, will focus on empowering youth and women, scaling up agricultural commercialization, increasing smallholder farmers’ resilience, and addressing the impacts of climate change.
Over 370,000 youth and 279,000 women will be enabled to venture into agri-business, such as engaging in high-value crop production, processing, and marketing access.
“So the new project will see massive adoption of climate-smart agricultural technologies, generate jobs and incomes for smallholder farmers, and increase agricultural and food exports for the country,” noted Ms Mkindi, who is credited as an unsung heroine who, through Taha under USAID support, raised the horticulture industry export value from $60 million in 2006 to a staggering $800 million in 2019.
Targeting to reduce food loss and waste, USAID’s Tuhifadhi Chakula project will enhance food security, improve livelihoods, increase employment, and generate export opportunities for Tanzania, especially among women and youth, Taha CEO explained.
Official data shows that in Tanzania, between, 40 and 50 percent of crops are lost between the field and the end market.
USAID’s Tuhifadhi Chakula project will therefore work with farmers, traders, processors, and other actors in the value chain to cut food loss and waste in half.
The project was designed in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and aligns with its National Post-Harvest Management Strategy.
The project will initially operate in the Arusha, Mbeya, Morogoro, Njombe, Pwani, Tanga, and Zanzibar regions of Tanzania.
“Today, we celebrate Tanzania’s significant strides in the agriculture, livestock, and fisheries sectors,” said the USAID/Tanzania Mission Director, Mr Craig Hart, speaking during the Nane Nane event in Mbeya. “Kilimo ni uti wa mgongo and together with determination and perseverance, we can navigate the pathway to a more promising and sustainable future.”
While in Mbeya, Mission Director Hart visited the sites of several ongoing USAID Feed the Future Projects, including Kilimo Tija (“Productive Agriculture”), the Private Sector Strengthening Activity, and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa activities.
Together, these activities are focusing on agriculture-led growth by strengthening the private sector, promoting improved technologies, practises, and inputs; bolstering horticulture, and facilitating value addition.
Recently, Tanzania received a renewed designation as a Feed the Future focus country. During her June visit to the country, USAID Administrator Samantha Power reaffirmed the robust partnership between the United States and Tanzania concerning food security and nutrition, poverty reduction, and agricultural growth.
Craig Hart, the newly appointed USAID/Tanzania Mission Director, also expressed his appreciation for the long-standing and fruitful relationship between USAID and Tanzania during a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Bashe, and at the Nane Nane event in Mbeya.
