100,000 SMALLHOLDER FARMERS TO BENEFIT FROM SH7BN GRANTS

The deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Mr Raphael Daluti, speaks with the Alliance for a Green Revolution director for market access programme, Ms Anne Mbaabu, in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution (Agra) yesterday announced that it will issue $4.25 million (about Sh7 billion) grants.It hopes that more than 100,000 smallholder Tanzanian farmers will benefit from the assistance.

 

The funding aims at improving incomes, productivity and access to markets for farmers in the southern highlands, Tanzania’s main breadbasket covered by the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania initiative. 

The grants will be spent on improving the quality of seeds and inputs as well as ease market access and an ability to secure finance.

“It was solely for the purpose of overcoming these challenges that Agra with partners including the Netherlands Development Organisation, Rural Urban Development Initiative, Women in Social Entrepreneurship and, Dunduliza Network of Savings And Credit Cooperatives have worked together to design a series of three-year projects to directly tackle these issues,” the statement reads.

To enhance farmers’ access to improved seed and inputs, the project will facilitate the training of agro-dealers to increase their knowledge and confidence on the improved technologies. The project will also link agro-dealers and farmers to microfinanciers to make these improved technologies more accessible.

The use of better inputs goes hand in hand with improved management practices, and through the project over 90,000 farmers will be trained on practices such as Integrated Soil Fertility Management to increase cereal yields by up to 300 per cent and legume yields by 100 per cent. That will involve the use of fertilisers combined with organic soil enhancers. 

Farmers use fertilisers efficiently and in combination with organic soil ameliorating inputs, To ensure gains made from improved seed and management are not lost when trying to sell the produce, farmers will be trained in post-harvest loss management, access to storage facilities and access to structured markets for rice, maize, beans and soybeans.

The projects that will benefit from the money are those that seek to strengthen agricultural productivity 
 
Agra Tanzania country head Mary Mgonja said the grants aimed at improving productivity and access to markets.

SOURCE: http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/Business/100-000-smallholder-farmers-to-benefit-from-Sh7bn-grants/-/1840414/2384372/-/2icntx/-/index.html