By Anthony Muchoki
“Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) programs have provided us with innovative financing and high-yield crop varieties. The partnerships created with private seed companies and small agro-dealers have become our lifeline as farmers,” notes National Agrodealer Association(TANADA) chairman Micheal Mahecha
Building Rural Incomes Through Enterprise (BRiTEN) Managing Director Mrs Josefynne Miingi-Kaiza, is grateful to AGRA for supporting agro-dealers asserting that they play an important role in agriculture value chain and are in a good position to support commercialization of smallholder agriculture in Tanzania.
It has been a long journey….after realizing more must be done for smallholder farmers, who are the backbone of agriculture in the country, the government decided to support them through “smart subsidies” (a voucher system, with an expectation of improving farmers’ access to seed and fertilizer).
Voucher system, a programme designed to enable peasants to engage themselves in modern agriculture, was made more workable when Alliance For Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) chipped in to support the government of Tanzania and other institutions that were implementing it.
Through Tanzania Agro-dealers Strengthening Program (TASP), Agra worked with the government and different facilitators to get desired result in Kilimo kwanza by enabling voucher system to operate.
AGRA a helped first to train agro dealers to understand the system and how to work with it and also helped to establish seed capital as an insurer for those who managed through CNFA to borrow money from National Microfinance Bank Limited (NMB).
Former NMB CEO Ben Christiaanse, expresses gratitude to AGRA for making dream comes true for financial access for a good number of famers. AGRA was offering credit guarantees making it easier for famers to access loans. AGRA invested USD1m in NMB as guarantee fund to facilitate access to credit facilities by agro-dealers serving poor farmers.
AGRA through CNFA also helped agro-dealers to improve business operations by qualifying to obtain NMB loans of up to US$16,000 .
To further develops the existing input distribution system into an efficient, commercially-viable infrastructure for increased productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers, AGRA worked with (CNFA) to develop national agro-dealer networks to improve access to agricultural inputs by farmers in Tanzania. The programme that started in June 2007 to May 31 2010, AGRA invested Over USD4 million.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives from July to December 2010 received assistance to develop a national strategy to streamline a cost effective agro-dealer distribution system, with the element of making improved inputs available to smallholder farmers in rural Tanzania.
To improve farmers’ livelihoods and strengthen the agricultural value chain in Tanzania, AGRA also supported programs which were meant to build agro-dealer networks which supply remote farmers with improved seed and fertilizers.
The majority of Tanzania’s population relies strongly on smallholder farmers to feed the nation. So it has been very sensible to establish the system which will encourage peasants to engage in modern farming using modern seeds and fertilizers.
According to the ministry of agriculture, food and cooperatives these complimentary initiatives have enabled over 700,000 smallholder farmers in the Southern Highlands to produce a record maize harvest in 2009, helping to feed drought-stricken regions of the country. And today in 2013/14 season, all food basket regions have produced enough for domestic consumption and more for export.
AGRA’s public and private sector partners in Tanzania who made these possible include the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, the National Microfinance Bank Ltd, and other.
Sylvia Mwichuli, AGRA Director, Communications notes that TASP was launched in 2007 and funded by AGRA. It has been highly successful in building and supporting a vibrant agrodealer network capable of serving smallholder farmer demands for improved inputs, services and marketing.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Hon. Eng. Christoper Chiza is happy with the agriculture prospects.
“We want to ensure agro-growth rises from current less than 4% to 6% per year. He notes that there is increased confidence among agrosuppliers thanks to AGRA for assisting in training about suppliers.
“All these efforts ionone way or the other have helped to improve productivity,” he notes.