MARCH 2015

ADVANCING WOMEN
Escalating interests in acquiring knowledge on Farming Technologies

N
umber of women
attending trainings on
farming technologies is
gradually increasing and has
significantly outweighed that
of men participation. This is
attributed to participatory on-
farm demonstration training
methods which have led
to a progressive number of
women practicing the skills
in their farms thus attracting
surrounding communities.

In March alone 296 women

were trained on Farming
Technologies compared to
161 men who previously
used to dominate in such
trainings. These trainings
were conducted in Arusha,
Kilimanjaro, Morogoro,
Manyara, Pwani, Zanzibar and
Southern Highlands Regions.
Farmers were trained on land
and seedling preparations,
drip irrigation installation
and Irrigation for water
management.

The trainings targeted tomato,

watermelon, cucumber, onion,
cabbage, mushroom, passion,
banana, mango and carrot.

Furthermore other trainings

were offered by Field Officers
to a total of 674 farmers within
their respective regions on
various technologies. These
trainings mainly targeted
watermelon, sweet pepper,
cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage,
onions and garlic.
One of the GAPs trainings beneficiary from Mtazamo Vegetable Growers in Arusha performing trellising on cucumber
Improving Business
Enabling Environment: Farmers commit Tshs. 125.8
access to input and
revision of the SMEs
Ml to Horticulture Investment
Policy 2003 in Coastal Regions
A F
s an industry Association, TAHA’s armers from Coastal Regions have
core business is to ensure that the production technologies upgrade. The
committed up to Tshs 125.8 million in move is considered a paradigm shift in
business environment is supportive
scaling up horticulture investment in fostering Horticulture investment growth
to horticulture investors both local and
international. TAHA therefore continued the region in a span of 2 months February in the country.
engaging with the government and other and March.
private sector partners on a number of The tables below summarize investment
issues with the aim of addressing challenges The millions were mainly spent on costs committed in February and March
in the industry. Some of the key highlights
this month as far as our advocacy work is
concerned include: TABLE 1: FEBRUARY
Improving farmers’ access to quality Type of investment Cost in Tsh Location
inputs in Lindi and Mtwara regions: Borehole 15,000,000 Kongowe - Kibaha
in collaboration with her ground partner i.e 2 Acres Drip Kit 4,000,000 Kongowe - Kibaha
Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), TAHA visited Greenhouse 8,000,000 Mbezi - Kinondoni
a number of agro input dealers in Mtwara
Water tanks and pipes 1,500,000 Mbezi - Kinondoni
and Lindi with the aim of informing them of
the available market opportunities for their Greenhouse 8,000,000 Kongowe - Kibaha
products in the two regions. TAHA and Water tanks and pipes 800,000 Kongowe - Kibaha
AKF work with a number of horticultural Borehole 9,000,000 Wazohill - Kinondoni
farmers and other actors in the two regions 2 Acres drip kit and tanks 6,000,000 Wazohill - Kinondoni
and the services provided include: trainings 4 Acres drip kit, borehole and tanks 20,000,000 Chanika – Ilala
on GAPs, market linkages, advisory services Mango propagation nursery 2,000,000 Kwamathias – Kibaha
on input access, and advocacy. The agro Total Investment as at Feb 28, 2015 74,300,000 Coast Regions
input dealers agreed to implement a joint  
mechanism with TAHA and AKF that will
streamline and facilitate efficient and TABLE 1: FEBRUARY
effective access to inputs and information Item Life span Location Value(Tsh)
by farmers. Some agro dealers agreed
to open outlets close to where farmers’ Water tank, irrigation pipes and w/pump More than 5 yrs Mkuranga 2,000,000
clusters are and also participate in capacity
development in addition to just selling
inputs to farmers. Solar drier More than 5 yrs Kibaha 5,000,000

Review of the SME Policy: irrigation pipes + water pumps More than 5 yrs Kibaha 8,000,000
TAHA also promote and safeguard the
interest of SMEs in horticulture, and in Borehole, pump, and water tank More than 5 yrs Goba, 15 ,000,000
view of this, the Association joined other Kinondoni
key stakeholders, Public and Private in the
review process of the SMEs Policy 2013. Water tank and pipes More than 5 yrs Goba, 1.5,000,000
TAHA therefore represented the views Kinondoni
of the horticulture SMEs, making sure
that their concerns are well understood, Borehole(80m deep), water tanks, 4 acre- More than 5 yrs Dundani, 20,000,000
articulated and included in the policy. The drip kit, seeds Mkuranga
overacting objective of that exercise is to
improve the business environment and TOTAL 51,500,000
competitiveness of SMEs including the
horticulture SMEs in Tanzania.  
SCALING UP NUTRITION:
Significance of fruits and vegetables in human
nutrition
In Tanzania low income families often suffer
from poor access to healthy foods and limited
ability to make good nutritional choices. It is
for this purpose the Tanzania Horticultural
Association (TAHA) with support from the
United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) has been supporting
families to achieve healthy food choices. Ms.
Ester Joram is one of the beneficiaries of this
program.
Ester is a mother of one in a household of five
people and hails from Kahe village located
in Moshi District, Kilimanjaro Region. For
a very long time her family suffered from
health problems which were caused by lack
of vitamins and essential minerals such as A,
K, calcium and potassium. As a result she was Regina (Left) enjoying a well-balanced breakfast (Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, porridge, fruits
advised to include veggies and fruits in her and vegetables) with family in Kahe Moshi
meal plans.
Ester met with TAHA’s nutritionist in October
2014 and received training on nutritional
values in fruits and vegetables. She was also
educated on how to establish home gardens.
By that time her 13 months old daughter was
weighing 9.02Kgs. Quoting her words she
said “With veggies and fruits I get essential
vitamins and minerals. The knowledge I
acquired on home garden preparation has
helped me establish a small vegetable garden
at my compound”.
Today, Ms. Ester is able to include vegetables
in her daily meals compared to once a week
which was a case previously. Moreover, her
family’s health status has improved. Her
daughter who weighed 9.2 before TAHA
intervened, was weighed just recently and she
has improved tremendously to 12.06Kgs. She
also pointed that she is now earning an average
weekly income of Tshs. 20,000 from selling the
vegetables to her surrounding neighbors. She
plans to establish more gardens around her
house.
Regina’s family posing for a photo with TAHA Nutrition Specialist Ms Lawrencia Wankyo (centre)
after a healthy breakfast

www.facebook.com/TanzaniaHorticulturalAssociationTaha www.taha.or.tz
TAHA Partners with AITVG Morogoro RC visits
to improve livelihood of
tomato producers in Iringa SUA PTC and Mlali
Collection Center
Morogoro Regional Commissioner Dr. Rajab Rutengwe visited the
Practical Training Center (PTC) at SUA. The PTC is TAHA/TAPP joint
initiative. The RC later visited the pack house and collection center
facilities at Mlali village in Morogoro Rural District. The facility which
has just been completed was constructed by TAHA in collaboration
with the Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives
(MAFC).

The RC was very impressed with various horticulture technologies

displayed at the Practical Training at the Center and the Mlali collection
Centre which he termed as Market Access solution to thousands of
farmers in the District.

Ibra Sanga, a tomato farmer from Ilula-Iringa arranging

tomatoes in crates before transporting them to the local
markets.

“Nyanya ni Pesa” Project was launched in Iringa In March

2015. The project which is funded by the Lutheran World
Relief Foundation and implemented by the Association of
Iringa Tomato and Vegetable Growers Company Limited
(AITVG), will be implemented in Iringa and Kilolo districts.

The overall goal is to improve livelihoods of tomato

farmers by increasing their income through marketing of
tomatoes.

TAHA will partner with AITVG in this endeavor with the Morogoro Regional Commissioner Hon. Dr. Rajab Rutengwe (right) explaining a
role of facilitating access to market information and point to TAHA Field Officer Mr Bansimbile during his visit at SUA Practical Training
linking target farmers with profitable markets. Centre and Mlali pack house & collection facility in Morogoro
Post Harvest Management Techniques:
A strategy to reduce food losses
TAHA Field officers from across the country
and Regional Agricultural Advisors (RAAs)
from the government participated in
a five days post-harvest management
training of trainers in Arusha early March.

The exclusive hands-on learning

experience was facilitated by trainers from
‘The Post-Harvest Education Foundation’
based in United States. The main objective
of the training was to equip the Field
Officers with post-harvest management
techniques whereby these officers and
the RAAs would later train farmers in their
respective locations in quest to reduce
post-harvest losses.

The training involved essential steps

along the foods chain system from
harvesting to marketing and specifically
issues related with harvesting, food safety,
cleaning, packing and storing fresh foods
as well as value addition on perishable
foods into products with longer shelf
life among other issues. As part of the
training, participants visited the World
Vegetable Center (AVRDC) in Arusha to
see practically, tools that are used to
protect food quality, nutritional values, TAHA Officers Mr. Julius Ringo (Second from right) and Gilliard Mollel (fourth from right) paying attention to
and shelf life for fresh produce. Post-Harvest management training Instructors during the training sessions at AVRDC Arusha.