=By Anthony Muchoki=:
*You cannot discuss the National Agricultural Input Voucher Scheme as it is
today without mentioning AGRA”
PROFESSOR Pedro A. Sanchez, who co-chairs the Hunger Task Force of the
Millennium Project of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), observes that rural African farmers need empowering.
What they need include the right quantities and quality of fertilizer at
the right time; credit support to enhance and otherwise improve their
holdings; efficient crop processing capabilities to add value to their farm
produce, and good market outlets.
It is because of these constraints that the Alliance for a Green Revolution
in Africa (AGRA) chipped in to help African countries, including Tanzania,
to revamp their agriculture.
For more than five decades after independence from alien rule in 1961,
Tanzania has been struggling to attain meaningful and sustainable
socio-economic development which would also lead to elimination of poverty,
which mostly bedevils the greatest proportion of the 45 million-population,
including especially those living in the rural parts of the country.
Different policies have been formulated, legislations and plans drawn up,
in efforts to help the people understand their plight and do something
about it.
This has especially been the case with peasant farmers who must speed up
transformation from traditional agriculture in all its forms to modern
agriculture, using state-of-the-art-and-science farming methods,
modalities, equipment and inputs which readily respond to the needs of the
sector.
When all is said and done, if we are to effectively transform agriculture
for the better in Tanzania, it is imperative that we understand the
challenges which farmers in the country are faced with.
Success of a Green Revolution in a country like Tanzania must principally
be pursued in the context that over 90 per cent of the country’s
agricultural output is produced by small-holder farmers using traditional
methods, and practising shifting agriculture.
It is a fact of life that small farmers spend hours and days in
backbreaking labour, only to produce relatively little from their farms.
This is largely due to the numerous constraints which are in their way,
including a singular lack of the ability in various forms to practise
modern agriculture as a matter of course.
But, all hope has not been lost… For one, AGRA programmes which have been
put in place in the country have already managed to help otherwise poor
peasant farmers increase their yields to the point of escaping the trap of
living ‘from-hand-to-mouth!’
Some of AGRA’s programmes – which focuses on soil, seeds, policies and
markets – has helped Tanzanians to produce more in recent years, thereby
achieving a measure of social and economic growth through agriculture.
Former head of the Inputs Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food
Security & Cooperatives (MAFC), Dr Mshindo Msolla, freely expressed
satisfaction regarding AGRA assistance to establish a relatively unique
system to help poor peasants in the country.
Regarding AGRA’s soil health programme, he say: “You cannot discuss the
‘National Agricultural Input Voucher Scheme’ (NAIVS) as it is today without
mentioning AGRA.”
The government in coordination with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa (AGRA), NAIVS supported to scale up agrodealer training. AGRA also
provided funding credit guarantees for agro-dealers, which helped to expand
the agro-dealer network in support of NAIVS.
Dr Msolla notes that the Input Subsidy Programme – which aimed at
increasing the adoption of improved seed and fertilizer in small-holder
maize and rice farming in efforts to raise productivity and improve food
security – became a resounding success a mere two years after its
establishment, Dr Msolla stressed that the programme succeeded “through
their (AGRA) support!”
Since the 2008/09 farming season, approximately TZS480 billion has been
invested in helping 2.5 million farmers by way of distributing vouchers
that subsidize by a half the price of improved seeds and fertilizer
purchased from private dealers at market prices.
One of the original aims of the NAIVS programme was to introduce the use of
chemical fertilizer to households who would not have otherwise used this
particular input. The general idea was to intensify food production in
areas with high agro-ecological potential for producing the two staple
foods.
NAIVS started with 740,000 household beneficiaries in 2008/09, expanded to
1,511,900 households in 2009/10 – and 2,011,000 households in 2010/11, who
received a total of six million vouchers!
The number of beneficiaries in the 2011/12 farming season decreased,
because the first-round NAIVS beneficiaries (2008/09) had graduated from
the programme.
On average, the amount of NAIVS expenditure on each household beneficiary
was USD51 in 2009/10; USD33 in 2010/11, and USD41 in 2011/12.
The programme, which appears to be cost-effective for maize – given the
evidence received from both fertilizer and seed companies that their
commercial sales were increasing in the aftermath of the subsidy
programme’s implementation – is a direct result of the assistance given by
AGRA.
“Several of the inputs companies either in seed or fertilizer are investing
more in developing wholesale to retail marketing chains, as well as in the
provision of private technical advice to encourage smallholders to continue
to purchase their products,” Dr Msolla says.
According to Dr Msolla, before establishing the voucher system, AGRA looked
at key problems in distribution systems, and helped to train agro-dealers
through CNFA.
With their certificates in hand, the retailers managed to secure bank loans
with which to buy inputs for their allocated areas in different parts of
the country.
The main aim of doing this is to create a situation whereby agro-dealers
will respond to the needs of peasant farmers in their localities, and
reduce where possible the distance covered to access inputs.
They also assisted non-government institutions which deal with agriculture
to identify and help peasants acquire the knowledge required to reduce
their dependence on shifting cultivation, and utilize the available
knowledge to equip themselves with the desire to have bountiful yields!
Dr Msola stressed that AGRA is committed to ensuring that the right seeds
and fertilizers reach the greatest number of peasant farmers across
Tanzania.
“The Alliance’s contribution to efforts that will ensure changes for the
better in Agriculture has been so immense that you can’t ignore it. From
research to the market, they are helping the government and the people of
Tanzania to get out of poverty through well known, true and tried good
agricultural practices,” Msolla reiterated.
Kriti Malhotra in a policy brief for REPOA about the National Agricultural
Input Voucher
Scheme, notes that NAIVS has greatly promoted adoption of fertilizers and
improved seeds but notes:
” While the programme may have increased aggregate maize production, key
challenges still
persist. There is a need to improve the programme’s targeted awareness in
order for farmers to
have a more informed, participatory role in the process of identifying
eligible households.”
Yasinta Edward, a farmer in Iringa, says the propgramme has benefited
farmers despite a number of problems like at times getting the inputs late.
A number of researches concurs with the farmer especially in Southern
Highlands (Iringa, Mbeya, Ruvuma, Rukwa), where about 75% of the maize/rice
farmers were covered in the programme, there was reported increased
production.
Tamahi Kato, in a paper published last year titled “Impact of Agricultural
Input Subsidies on Poverty in Tanzania,” noted that in “some villages
where the voucher was distributed somehow according to the guideline of the
programme, the farmers and key stakeholders mentioned that there was
positive impact of agricultural input voucher where recipient farmers have
increased maize/rice production and increased income and improved
living.” However, the researcher also noted in some villages the impact
was unseen because of the corruption.
End