AGRA

Digitization could change the game for agriculture in Africa. That’s a key message in a report recently released by an international institution that enhances smallholder farming in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

The center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) focuses on poverty reduction through modernizing smallholder farming by fostering innovation and knowledge sharing.

Digitization refers to everything from delivering farming advice via text messaging to interactive voice response. It also includes smart phone applications that link farmers to multimedia advisory content, farm inputs, and buyers. And it covers the use of drones and satellite systems to inform farmer activities, such as crops and times to plant; and types and amounts of inputs to use.

Other global organizations have echoed this message. These range from NGOs like Solidaridad Network—a civil society organization that accelerates sustainable and inclusive development—to the World Bank. These organizations believe that digital technologies can create employment for young people in the agricultural sector, promote economic activity, and enhance food security.

For the past two decades, digitization has steadily transformed African farming. In Ghana, for instance, online platforms such as Esoko, Farmerline, and Trotro Tractor have provided farmers with accessible services. These have included voice messages and SMS extension advice. This helps farmers obtain information about how to access markets and extension services..

Elsewhere on the continent, international organizations help provide precision advice to farmers. An example is the CTA’s “Transforming Africa’s agriculture: Eyes in the sky, smart techs on the ground” project that supports the use of drones for agriculture.

The continent’s digital agriculture industry is growing. The number of farmers subscribed to digital services has grown by between 40 percent and 45 percent per year in the last three years.

Annual revenues from digitally supported farming are estimated at about $140 million. Services are provided by a small but growing number of providers—some of which are estimated to generate €90 of revenue per farmer annually, partly through service charges. This trend looks set to continue.

But the success of digitization in agriculture shouldn’t just be evaluated by its economic value. Its benefits must be enjoyed by smallholder farmers and rural populations. Smallholder farmers, most of whom have access to less than two acres of land, produce more than 80% of the food in sub-Saharan Africa.

African smallholder farmers will ultimately determine the continent’s digital farming story. Only through collaborations with them, and among sectors, will the digital transformation become a success in Africa.

Challenges of smallholder farming

Smallholder farmers face daunting political, economic, social, cultural, and institutional barriers. They have limited access to information, markets, capital, land tenure, and even basic inputs like fertilisers and seeds.

Government policies, and the influx of foreign land grabbers in many African countries, only worsen the situation. Ethiopia, Ghana, and South Sudan are among the hot beds for foreign land deals.

Added to these are environmental issues like soil erosion and a changing climate. In recent years, droughts, rising temperatures, and El-Niño events left nearly thirteen million people from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia needing humanitarian assistance.

This makes traditional farming hard for smallholders across the continent, and can undermine their capacity to fully benefit from the digital revolution.

Also, connectivity tends to be limited in rural areas. And, even if farmers can connect, they may not have enough money to access the services.

These concerns limit the production and profits of farmers and undermine rural development. This is where digitization comes in. It has potential to increase access to information and resources to provide solutions.

Elsewhere, digital technologies are already showing promise for rural farmers. The Chinese government partners with private actors like Alibaba to digitize agriculture. From web-portals to Mobile Internet Based Services, rural farmers benefit from access extension advice and capital. This leads to increased productivity and incomes.

Inclusion in digitization

There have been positive strides in ensuring smallholders become involved in digital agriculture. An estimated 33 million people – about 13 percent of all sub-Saharan African smallholders and pastoralists—are already registered for services such as weather updates and market linkages.

Ethiopia’s “80-28” hotline—a farmer advisory service – has about 4 million users, the highest on the continent. Beyond being a free service, its success is partly due to the delivery of services in local languages. Aligning services to local circumstances encourages farmers to subscribe willingly.

Kenya leads the way in digitization in Africa. Collaborations between agriculture and telecommunication has been instrumental in their success so far.

What’s missing

These examples show what is necessary to help smallholders become connected to digital services.

One additional strategy is to blur the boundaries between different sectors. digitization is not just an agricultural issue, or a technological one. It involves many parts of the economy. Hence, digitization must be situated within a broader development and poverty reduction agenda. For instance, education is critical to farmers’ ability to use and benefit from digital technologies.

It is also crucial to place smallholders front and center when designing policies and specific digital products meant to help them. In this way, digital transformation will reflect the users’ needs.

Originally published

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) joins the family and friends of Bob Collymore, Safaricom CEO, and the people of Kenya in mourning his passing.

Bob, as he was popularly known, understood the meaning of creating wealth at the bottom of the pyramid. Under his leadership, Safaricom pioneered multiple innovations that changed the lives of smallholder farmers by giving them access to finance and digital platforms to enhance market access; both of which are critical gaps in Africa’s agriculture sector.

Speaking at the 2016 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Nairobi, Bob called for a combination of the private sector efficiency and the ability of the public sector to invest in things like infrastructure to achieve the full potential of agriculture. “Partnership will be key in achieving this full potential. And we do not have a choice, we have to achieve the potential of agriculture otherwise we will not be able to feed ourselves,” said Mr. Collymore at the time.

In her tribute to Mr. Collymore, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, AGRA President said: “We are deeply saddened by his passing. This is a big loss not only for Kenya but for the continent and the world. He was a friend of the smallholder farmers whose lives have been transformed by the digital technologies that Safaricom rolled out under his leadership. Our prayers and thoughts are with his wife, children, family, friends, colleagues and the people of Kenya whose lives he touched in many ways.”

“Sometimes it looks unreal. It is like a miracle. Yes, it is a miracle… we never thought in our lifetime, we would be able to have a warehouse as big as this one- yes, and belonging to us- the smallholder farmers!”

It is Mr. Osphard Sinkala, talking, looking at an imposing warehouse, under construction, with (40x12x5) m3 dimensions and ability to store about 450MT of paddy/maize, when completed.

Mr. Sinkala is the chairman of farmers’ organization (FO) known as Sakalilo Amcos, at Sakalilo Village, Sumbawanga District, Rukwa Region. The FO owns the warehouse, which by April 2019 was about 85 percent complete. When ready, it will serve over 2,300 smallholder paddy farmers.

The FO has 116 active members, of which 45 are female.  After the construction of the warehouse, over 500 villagers have applied to join the FO. Their membership will be approved or disapproved in the next general meeting.

At the moment as in the past, villagers with extraordinary good harvests have a huge “storage” problem.

There are times, their houses and home granaries are filled up and they have to store the paddy under mongo trees or makeshift tents, leaving it exposed to waste away, as the pain of farmers.

“Lack of proper storage facilities at times make farmers lose over 50 percent of their produce.  Those storing outside the house sometimes they lose everything,” he notes.

Farmers have been wanting to start using the warehouse, while incomplete and had to be stopped. The prices of paddy at the moment/ April 2019, stands at Tsh 30,000 to Tsh 40,000 per a sack of “7 debe” which can come to about 75kg to 90 Kg.

It’s notable these are illegal measurements in Tanzania, but farmers have no option at the moment.

At the end of the day, the buyers gain unfairly as the farmers struggle to make ends meet. “The warehouse will change all this and ensure farmers get fair prices… then will no longer be in a hurry to sell at throwaway prices,” Mr. Sinkala notes.

The construction of the warehouse started in May 2018, with financial support from Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) through what farmers have code-named “Kilimo Tija” project.

Farmer leaders, local government and central government were all involved in deciding that Sakalilo village, was a suitable site, to put up a center of aggregation in the lower side of Ufipa Plateau. The decision arrived through sieving challenges and opportunities from ward-to-ward and village-to-village in the cluster notes Mr. Japhet Laizer, Associate Program Officer at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) – SUKA Consortium.

He assures that the construction will be completed soon and farmers will utilize this facility for 2018/19 harvest. The storage facility will enable smallholder farmers to aggregate huge volume of paddy, reducing post-harvest losses, negotiate market terms while reaping better price. “The location is great as Ufipa Plateau has in place irrigation infrastructures for more paddy production, notes Mr. Laizer.

“All the surrounding villages despite having high paddy production, proper storage facilities are very limited. This causes massive post-harvest losses and farmers get lower returns as they have to sell their produce shortly after harvest when prices are very low,” he notes.

According to Mr. Laizer, the implementation of the project was done in the spirit of public-private partnership (P-P-P). Sakalilo Amcos which is owned and managed by smallholder farmers bought a plot of land at a cost of 304 USD, but also contributed sweat capital, collecting stone, sand, laying the foundation which was estimated to cost 3,981 USD and thus making total contribution of 4,285 USD from local communities. where the warehouse has been built.  AGRA support for the project through PiATA TIJA initiatives was 35,000 USD for construction. Famers contributed labor and provision of some materials for construction. The government provided technical support and structural engineering during the exercise.

“After completion, then farmers have plans to bring in processing machines and all this are important so that, they can start getting value for money,” he notes.

Mr. Chrisanti Ilumba, Sakalilo Amcos Marketing Manager, noted that the marketing linkages created by “Kilimo TIJA” project between farmers, and aggregation centers and buyers, was key to uplifting farmers’ living standards and ensure sustainable business relationships between actors in the value chains.

Farmers around the villages have been trained by the project about Good agricultural practices, good post-harvest handling practices, technologies, warehouse management, business skills, contract negotiations and crop aggregation among other things.

Mr. Vianey Rweyendela, AGRA Country Manager, notes that to cut post-harvest losses due to poor or lack of storage facilities for smallholder farmers reliable and accessible warehouses are a must, and where farmers can own and have control, it becomes even much better.

Diverse studies indicate that farmers lose at times up to 40% of their produce after harvest due to poor handling or lack of suitable storage facilities.

Simplified science and technology applications in agriculture are changing smallholder farmers lives for the better in many places across Africa.

They range from ensuring healthy soils, bring to smallholder farmers improved seeds, good husbandry and use of new storage technologies, among others.

According to Dr. George Bigirwa, AGRA Vice President,  such activities along the agriculture value chain are translating previously mundane farms into productive business units, when access to markets and processing are also taken into the book.

Tanzania is one of the nations in the continent with a high rate of new adaptations of new crop varieties, use of fertilizers and other agronomical practices.

According to Mr. Wilson Joel, Regional Agricultural Advisor (RAA) Njombe, this has brought about higher productivity, subsequently, the movement from subsistence farming to commercial farming by smallholder farmers has gained momentum.

The journey to adopting new ways of life in farming practices is sometimes not very smooth despite the apparent benefit, and stringent approval by the government of technologies introduced.

The story of Mama Enesi Ndondole and her husband Mr. Eskia Kaduma, based in Lunguya Village, Mtwango Ward in Njombe Rural, highlights how such struggles are real.

When an opportunity came for free training to enable villagers to improve productivity and increase their incomes, thanks to Kilimo Tija project supported by AGRA, the couple, who have 7 children,  decided to give it a go.

For the lady, there was no turning back, she was convinced if she would farm as per advice by the experts, it would mean increased income and improved living standard for her family.  For over 20 years, they had been farming, without making any substantial inroads in turning their farm activities into a commercial venture. “This was our golden chance.

However, the husband was pessimistic. The “miracle” solutions promised sounded untrue. And after all, he was farming using old age, tested ways of his forefathers. “How can I ditch all the knowledge passed to me by my elders for something new and untested! ”  He decided he was not going to buy any of the tricks of the educated.

There was a huge disagreement at the home. For the sake of peace and sanity, the man took the lead. He divided their family 5-acre farm into two, and gave one side to the wife, to try out her crazy adventure, with new agronomic practices. The wife got 2 acres.

For his good self, the good man would remain with the ways of his fathers. He would plant traditionally as he has known it for years. And at the same time, even if he was produced successful more crops using new varieties, they were not going to be eaten at his home.

“No, I can’t allow an experiment with my family, what if what is produced is not healthy? We can only eat it, after many tests by others to confirm, it not poisonous,” he said. Even after assurance that new maize varieties had been tested and approved by the government, he would hear none of it.

Later on, the husband decided it was actually a waste giving the wife one part of the land to try the new farming methods. The lady of the house had to pay rent to her husband of Tsh 100,000 to be set free to use the land the way she wanted.   He was also mad that at one point, his wife would depend on loans for inputs. “Do you want our house to be sold because of a loan.”

To beat the odds and adopt the new farming technologies, she had to go the extra mile. During the kilimo Tija project training, she joined Isoelo Amcos.

She paid 20 percent to buy new maize variety- Uyole UH615  through Isoelo Amcos. The rest she would repay after harvesting. Samwise, thanks to AGRA connection, a fertilizer company, gave her the input on credit (50%). She was very keen on practicing the best husbandry practices so as to get the best output as trained.    Mama Enesi Ndondole stands proud as she displays her well-grown maize. Its late April 2019. Her portion of land, is all green, with healthy maize. Come June 2019, she expects to harvest over 70 sacks of maize, each 100 kg.

In contrast, her husband’s maize though in the bigger portion of the land it looks emaciated and has little produce.  The good man of the village expects to harvest 10 to 15 bags, as he has been doing for years.

Her husband has realized her wife made the right choice after checking out with other farmers away from his village.  He has accepted defeat, that his yield is low.

Like many smallholder farming households in Tanzania, the majority have more than one adult decision-maker. Often the decision to adopt new methods or not has to be supported by the male head of the family.  Despite gains in gender equality, patriarchy is still a problem.

Research, which undertaken in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania shows that adoption of agricultural technologies helps “to increase yields and incomes, save time, improve food and nutritional security, and even empower women.”

Farmers and other players along the agriculture value chain are excited by the zeal shown by the government in pushing for an industrialized Tanzania.

“We need more agriculture-based manufacturing industries purchasing from smallholder farmers, and the existing ones should up their production capacity,” notes Mr. Anwary M. Said.

Mr. Said founded Fantashiru Milling, based in Sumbawanga Municipality in 2005.   When he started off, he had 2 milling machines in a single building with the capacity of producing 375 kg of flour per day.

With time he has modernized the settings, has  6 milling machines on 3 different buildings within the same plant, with the capacity of producing 10MT of flour per day. He has loyal customers in Katavi, Mpanda, and Kigoma.

About 300 organized smallholder farmers from Mhiza, Kwasi and Kaengesa in Sumbawanga District, who have been beneficiaries of Kilimo TIJA programme, sell their maize to him.

“The good thing about organized farmers, they bring to us quality maize and we offer them a better price,” says Mr. Said. He has started building a second modern warehouse which will provide enough space for storing his produce. His current warehouse, AGRA at one time assisted him to concrete the floor and compound thus reducing offloading charges by 50 percent. Previously trucks would pack outside making him pay the double price in loading/offloading of produce. Through AGRA TIJA’s help in renovating his compound, he has been able to cut his cost by half, saving more than ten million TZS in a season.  His company has been selling maize flour to business people coming from Congo and Zambia.

Another processor based in Sumbawanga is Mr. Asayile Paulo Msaku famously known as Mr. London. His company goes by the name London Agro Factory.

He says that maize farming, so long as processors like himself are able to produce quality flour and other byproducts, has a bright future.  The market for maize flour in and out of Tanzania is huge and keeps on growing.

He purchases maize directly from about 1500 organized farmers. The Farmers Organisations he is dealing with are beneficiaries of Kilimo Tija Programme.

His journey in maize processing started in 2003. He bought only one milling machine with a capacity of processing 1 MT per day.   It was in 2012, that he formalized the business by registering London Agro Factory Ltd. So far he has 3 processing machines with a capacity of 8 MT per day.

He supplies flour to businesspeople in DRC Congo, Mozambique and eyeing South Sudan.  February 25th, 2019, the company signed a contract to supply 100,000 MT of maize flour to DR Congo. He says this is just the beginning, more is to come.

Ms. Rita Sekilovele notes the future is bright for organized farmers practicing proper agronomy. She owns and manages  Super Seki Investment Co based in Iringa, a milling outfit that buys maize from farmers in Iringa Region, and processes the same for sale as flour (fortified) and related by-products. Thanks to linkages brought about by Kilimo Tija Programme she was able to acquire a loan of Tsh 500,000,000 from NMB Bank to expand the business. She is happy she is able to settle the monthly premiums and projects to fully repay the amount within 3 years.  She sells her processed products to businesspeople in Mtwara, Ifakara, Mlandizi, Dodoma among other areas. She is able to sell about 30TN per week to each of the mentioned areas. She also supplies flour to a number of schools within Iringa.

For Nelson Isaac- he decided to take a road that is less traveled in Tanzania.  While many business people like to deal with maize, he chose to become a rice processor.  At first, he used to buy paddy during high season and sell in low season. He then bought two small paddy processing machines. Since then, there has been no turning back. The young entrepreneur, just 32 years old buys paddy and sells rice.  His current processing capacity is 500MT. He purchases paddy directly from FOs working with Kilimo Tija programme such as Tujiinue SACCOS, Vuma AMCOs, Tushikamane AMCOS, Muze Amcos, Nzovwe Amcos, Mbulu Saccos, Sakalilo Amcos, Sakalilo Umwagiliaji, Azimio Amcos, and Nyombe Amcos.

In total, Nelson provides a market for 1300 farmers from different FOs. For the coming harvest, the company has a contract to buy  200MT of paddy with Sakalilo Amcos. He sells his rice to business people at Tunduma International market, Zambia and Kasumbaresa (D.R.C )

The named processors, each in his or her way are among the business people who see industrialization in the face of agriculture development.

According to Mr. Vianey Rweyendela, AGRA Country Manager, the fastest road to industrialization in Tanzania with an economic impact on the majority populace, is through agro-processing and related ventures.

Thus AGRA’s support to kilimo in Tanzania is complementing government’s efforts in the drive to make the nation reach middle-income economy by 2025 based on industrialization.

There are notable processing firms which have been working closely with AGRA supported Kilimo Tija programme across Tanzania.

“You cannot talk of agribusiness and leave out manufacturing in Tanzania’s setting,” Mr. Vianey.

Dr. Donald Mmari, REPOA  Executive Director is emphatic that “Tanzanian economy is agrarian.”  He says that by improving agriculture production and raising productivity,  it will automatically attract different forward and backward linkages. One of the most important linkages is agro-based manufacturing.

Image: Chautundu, a Village Based Advisor in Kagera,Tanzania in his maize farm. He serves 50 farmers, 22 of whom have adopted hybrid maize varieties doubling their yield.

Data from Tanzania’s agriculture ministry shows that for eight continuous years, the country has been food self-sufficient. It has been exceeding 100% of demand, with its most important food crops- maize, rice, and cassava.

As other East African nations (by March/April 2019), were grappling with maize shortage, a sizable number of farmers in Tanzania’s southern highlands were yet to sell last season’s produce, awaiting improved prices.

Mr. Joseph Sauga, a farmer in Iponda, Wanging’ombe, Iringa Region has 12 acres of land under improved seed maize cultivation.  “Many of us, still have last season’s maize stock as the price was not friendly.. the supply was more than demand,” he notes, adding they were waiting patiently for neighboring countries to run out of maize.

The last time Tanzania experienced a serious shortage of maize was in 2010 and since then, it has established itself as a maize powerhouse.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, during the 2010 shortage, the production was at 4.7m t which increased to 6m t in 2015.

By 2014  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)  Director-General José Graziano da Silvain declared that Tanzania had achieved self-sufficiency with 1.6 million tons of maize and 800 000 tons of rice in surpluses.

The agriculture ministry data indicates that  2016/17 maize production had reached 6.3m t while the domestic demand was 5.2m t.

Partnerships

A public-private partnership and support from donors in uplifting agriculture have progressively made Tanzania turn into a  net exporter of maize, the most important food crop in East Africa.

The journey to becoming a net exporter by the East African Community’s largest and most populous nation with a population of over 57 million  has been very deliberate.

Former president Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, launched  Kilimo Kwanza/ Agriculture First drive in 2009, with the private sector at the wheels, as the road map to food security and production of surplus for trade.

AGRA was one of the many development partners supporting the government as the drive was launched.

“After AGRA was launched in 2006- Tanzania was among the first four priority countries alongside- Ghana, Mali, Mozambique,” notes Mr. Vianey Rweyendela, AGRA Country Manager.

“ Supporting the government of Tanzania meant we needed to be at the forefront of supporting the national agriculture agenda,” he notes.  This broad-based support has led to an increased availability of well-adapted crop varieties, building the technical capacities of various agribusiness partners like seed companies and agrodealers as well as the introduction of new crop storage technologies.

AGRA’ over a-decade support to  Tanzania government-owned research institutions – building the capacity of plant breeders, development or perpetuation of improved maize, cassava, and rice varieties(and other crops), is bearing fruit.

Some of the seed varieties that have rallied the increased production over the years, among other vital actions along the value chain, had the hand of AGRA in one way or the other.

Mass adoption of improved maize and cassava varieties produced by government-owned research institutions have played a key role in the boom the farmers are experiencing.

Ms. Rehema Mbuya, Agro dealer at Mtwango Village, Makambako, Iringa attests that breeder seeds from Mbeya-based Agricultural Research Institute-Uyole (ARI-Uyole),   especially, Uyole 615, are most widely used in the Southern Highlands Zone.

ARI-Uyole with support from AGRA among other partners has been developing early generation seeds for private seed companies to produce sufficient quantities of certified and/or quality declared.

Dr. Tulole Bucheyeki, Director of ARI-Uyole centre notes that Uyole 615 is one of the most successful maize breeds from the center which seed companies buy from the institution for regeneration.  It is one of the most widely used breeds in Southern Highlands Zone,” he attests. The zone comprises -Mbeya, Ruvuma, Iringa, Rukwa, Njombe and Katavi regions.

8 years ago Cassava farmers bore the brunt of the cassava mosaic disease which decimated the crop across the country. Zanzibar Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI)’s head of Roots and Tuber Research, Dr. Haji Saleh notes it was AGRA that financed the development of “Kizimbani” cassava variety, which has become the most widely grown in Tanzania’s spice islands.

In the mainland “Mkombozi” and “Mkuranga” cassava are the most popular in the Southern Highlands, Western Highlands and in the Coastal area.  Sugarcane Research Institute- Kibaha, which has also previously received AGRA support is one of the institutions which has been breeding the variety, which, like its name, many farmers see it as a savior as it is pest and drought resistant.

March 31, 2019 data from the Ministry of Agriculture shows higher consumption of cassava than rice in 2018/19 in Tanzania mainland unlike in the previous years.

According to the ministry proportional contribution (for food security) crop wise for 2018/2019 consumption for maize was at 37%(the highest), followed by Cassava 17%, rice 13%, pulses 11% and banana 7%.

For years, maize has led the pack, followed by rice but things could be changing as more people are consuming more cassava than rice in the mainland.  In Zanzibar, cassava retains the second spot after rice. Both maize and cassava are key food and cash crops in Tanzania’s drive.

Supporting women farmers to move from subsistence to commercial farming is the key to achieving gender equality, posits small scale farmer, Mrs. Edina Josephat, a resident of Kasindaga village in Muleba District Kagera Region.

A wife and a mother of six, she has seen gender discrimination shutter women’s social and economic prospects.  In some cases a woman will do all the farming, only for the husband to sell the produce without even leaving some food for the family, she narrates. Such scenarios are very common.

Luckily, at a personal level, her husband is a proponent of gender equality. They own a one-acre farm and also rents out another acre.

Since she got married back about 2 decades ago,  small scale farming has been a way of life. Having no other job,  with her husband, they have been giving their piece of land all the attention it deserves over the years, but low productivity has always been a huge challenge.

Thanks to AGRA’s Kilimo Tija project, things have started to change after she was convinced to start using new beans and maize varieties. Along the way, she was also educated without paying a single coin, about commercial farming. She is very enthusiastic about it and is very hopeful, it will bring her family prosperity.

“This is just the beginning hardly one year since I started adopting new agricultural technology, yet the prospects are great. If only I had known about good agronomic practices some years ago, I would be very far away in my agriculture ventures,” she notes.

Mrs. Edina assertions are supported by Dr. Magdalena William, famously known as “mama beans” in Kagera Region. She says there is a great need to ensure that gender equality is able to empower women and girls, specifically in the agriculture sector.

By empowering women with “beans” which she is an expert breeder,  it has not only been an income generating venture but a provision of cheap proteins, vital for reducing stunted growth among children.

After all women in Tanzania make  70 -75 percent of the agriculture labor force.  This means if they are empowered along the entire value chain, the end outcome would be improved household incomes and greater economic empowerment at the village, district, regional and national levels.

Past research has indicated that women have been   from some of the value chain activities like marketing, processing, and trade.

Mr. Vianey Rweyendela, AGRA Country Manager notes that Kilimo Tija program is very keen in ensuring that women farmers are empowered across different regions.

“In training on soils, agronomical practices,  crop varieties, markets -and all issues along the value chain, we fight to strike a gender balance,” he notes, adding that increased yields and incomes go a long way in empowering women.

Mr. Vianey says that implementers of Kilimo Tija were ensuring women are involved in marketing, processing, and trade- that is, in the upstream of the value chain, as much as downstream was also vital.

For example, in Suka consortium (Sumbawanga and Katavi) of 83,655 smallholder farmers trained since last year on good agronomic practices during the implementation of the project, 38% are women.

For the Kigoma consortium, with 170,000 smallholder farmers beneficiaries, about 42% are female.

Ms. Rita Sekilovele has faith in women farmers.  She buys most of the maize she processes from them. Show women the money, and they will do the work for it, she notes.

Kilimo Tija has played a key role in the expansion of her business in providing vital linkages. One of her companies,  Super Seki Investment, buys maize from farmers in Iringa region. She has put up a 1,500MT capacity warehouse.

The business lady has been very active in attending meetings and trade missions organized by  Ihemi Consortium, which is implementing Kilimo Tija programme in her region.

Tanzania’s gender development index (GDI) value is 0.937 as per UNDP, 2016: 6, while the gender inequality index (GII)7 value is 0.544, ranking the nation 129 out of 159 countries.

Mr. Iffat Idris of University of Birmingham published last year, “Mapping women’s economic exclusion in Tanzania” notes that females form a “larger share of the working age population, but a smaller share of the economically active population”

Despite agriculture a greater proportion of women than men (69.9% vs. 64.0%) working in agriculture, “there are significant gender gaps in own farming with far fewer women landholders, having smaller plot sizes, employing fewer people and farming more for subsistence rather than income generation as compared to male landholders.”

While programmes like Kilimo Tija, are making significant changes in the regions they are being implemented, long term concerted efforts must be made to sustain the momentum of transforming women farmers into major players, notes Ms. Maida Waziri, Voice of Women Entrepreneurs in Tanzania (VoWET).

Simon N. Groot of the Netherlands was announced today as the 2019 World Food Prize Laureate for his transformative role in empowering millions of smallholder farmers in more than 60 countries to earn greater incomes through enhanced vegetable production, benefitting hundreds of millions of consumers with greater access to nutritious vegetables for healthy diets.

The announcement was made at a ceremony in the U.S. Department of State hosted and presided over by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Acting Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Manisha Singh gave remarks, and Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, made Mr. Groot’s award public.

“Like Dr. Norman Borlaug before him, Simon N. Groot has dedicated his life to improving the livelihoods of millions around the world,” said Amb. Quinn. “With his partner in the Philippines, he began developing vegetable varieties with enhanced disease resistance and significantly higher yields. As the use of his seeds spread throughout the Philippines and to Thailand, Indonesia and across Southeast Asia, farmers’ daily lives were uplifted and consumers benefited from greater access to nutritious vegetables. Mr. Groot in effect developed a stunningly impactful global network of seed producers who are transforming the lives of 20 million farmers every year. For this extraordinary accomplishment, he truly deserves to be named the 2019 World Food Prize Laureate.”

Awarded by the World Food Prize Foundation, this $250,000 prize honors Mr. Groot’s unparalleled achievements as the founder and leader of East-West Seed. His initiative over the past four decades has developed a dynamic, smallholder-centric tropical vegetable seed industry, starting in Southeast Asia and spreading through Asia, Africa and Latin America. Today East-West Seed serves over 20 million smallholder farmers in more than 60 tropical countries.

“I did not know which fertilizer to use,” said Salimu Tamimu, a farmer for over 30 years from Tanzania. “I now know the importance of good seed variety selection, planting with the right spacing, and when to apply fertilizer on my crops. I am looking forward to grow Mapema F1 [cabbage].”

Mr. Groot has led the transition of millions of subsistence farmers, many of them women, to horticulture entrepreneurs, thereby greatly enhancing their livelihoods and income. These farmers have invigorated both rural and urban markets for vegetable crops in their communities, making nutritious vegetables more widely available and affordable for millions of families each year.

Henne Schuwer, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United States, said, “I am very proud of Mr. Simon Groot. That he has been awarded this important prize highlights the excellent bond between the U.S. and the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world, behind only the United States. I hope this award will serve as an encouragement to further strengthen the relationship between our two countries in the field of agriculture.”

Mr. Groot has truly shown the world what can be achieved when agricultural industry places the needs of smallholder farmers at the heart of their business.

“The awarding of the World Food Prize to a vegetable seedsman is reason for excitement and gratitude,” Groot said. “But the ultimate recognition is for the millions of smallholder farmers that stepped up farming from a way of living to building a business. Small scale vegetable farming is a great way to grow rural income and employment and improve nutrition at the same time. Partnering modern science with a long tradition of Dutch seedsmanship has contributed mightily to the growth of the vegetable farming industry of tropical Asia in the last 35 years. Now it is the turn for tropical Africa where again quality vegetable seeds combined with major farmer knowledge transfer programs can create sustainable income for the next generation of African farmers.”

When Mr. Groot started East-West Seed, commercial vegetable breeding was all but unknown in the tropics. Smallholder farmers struggled to grow a good crop with low-quality, poorly adapted seed that they often saved from season to season. Low-quality seed resulted in low yields, which translated into poverty and malnutrition for farmers and their families. Groot sympathized with the farmers’ plight, and saw a way to break the vicious cycle of poverty and help farmers achieve prosperity through diversification into high value vegetable crops.

After years of dedicated research and development, starting in the Philippines with business partner Benito Domingo, Mr. Groot introduced the first locally developed commercial vegetable hybrids in tropical Asia. These varieties were fast-growing, high-yielding and resistant to local diseases and stresses. Mr. Groot also realized that in order for farmers to maximize the value of these high quality seeds, they needed training on improved vegetable cultivation. Working closely with local and international NGOs, Mr. Groot created East-West Seed’s innovative Knowledge Transfer program–a unique feature for a seed company–which trains tens of thousands of farmers each year in good agricultural practices for vegetable production. As a result of better seeds and farming methods, farmers saw a dramatic increase in their profits, doubling or even tripling their incomes, and consumers found greater availability of these nutritious vegetables in their local markets.

Dr. Louise Fresco, president of Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands, said, “Notwithstanding his wide international experience with political leaders in the entire world, Simon Groot has remained a modest man. The expression that characterizes him most is: ‘Seeing big smiles on faces of farmers has given me tremendous satisfaction.’ Those are words that Dr. Borlaug himself could have pronounced. Both men share an extraordinary vision and dedication. I am convinced that Dr. Borlaug would have been impressed by the stamina and vision of Simon Groot, and would have shared his conviction that food security must entail not only calories but also nutritional qualities through vegetables.”

Mr. Groot will receive the World Food Prize at a ceremony that will be held in the magnificent Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines, Iowa, on the evening of October 17, 2019.

ABOUT THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE: The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. The Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, the World Food Prize has honored 49 outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions throughout the world. The World Food Prize annually hosts the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium and a variety of youth education programs to help further the discussion on cutting-edge global food security issues and inspire the next generation to end hunger.

ABOUT THE BORLAUG DIALOGUE: The Borlaug Dialogue is a three-day international symposium, which regularly draws over 1,200 people from 65 countries to discuss cutting-edge issues in global food security.  The theme for the 2019 Symposium is Pax Agricultura: Peace Through Agriculture. You can register to attend the Borlaug Dialogue at www.worldfoodprize.org/register. Also included in the World Food Prize week-long series of events is the Iowa Hunger Summit on October 14 and the three-day Global Youth Institute, which includes 400 participants from the U.S. and abroad and is designed to inspire the next generation of high school students to explore careers in agriculture and fighting hunger.

Press Contact:
Nicole Barreca, Director of Communications and Events
515.245.3735 (direct), 563.271.2995 (cell), or nbarreca@worldfoodprize.org

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