By Anthony Muchoki=:
Prof. Sanchez who co-chairs the Hunger Task Force of the Millennium Project of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals observes that what rural African farmers need is empowerment.
They need the right quantity and quality of fertilizer at the right time, credit support to enhance and expand their holdings, efficient crop processing capabilities to add value to farm produce, and good market outlets to sell their
It is because of these constraints AGRA chipped in to help different countries, including Tanzania to revamp their agriculture.
For more than five decades Tanzania has been struggling to spur economic growth and eliminate poverty which is a normal phenomenon for those who are living in the rural areas.
Several policies were enacted to help peasants in the country to understand their plight and speed up their transformation from traditional agriculture to the most modern one, using farm inputs which respond to the need of the soil.
It is true, so to speak, in order to transform agriculture in Tanzania, it is imperative to understand the context of the challenges facing farmers in the country.
Success of green revolution in a country like ours, hinges on the understanding that over 90 percent of agricultural output is produced by smallholder farmers using traditional methods particularly shifting agriculture.
It is known that these people spend hours and hours of backbreaking labour to produce very little from their farms because of numerous constraints facing them, lack of modern agriculture knowledge being one of them.
There is no doubt that AGRA programs in the country have managed to help poor peasants increase their yield by far from hand to mouth.
AGRA’s program which focuses on soil, seeds, policies and markets helped Tanzanians to produce more hence achieving economic growth through agriculture.
In an interview with the former boss of input department at the ministry of agriculture, food security and cooperatives (MAFC), Dr Mshindo Msolla, he expressed satisfaction of the Agra assistance to establish the most unique system to help poor peasants in the country.
On his own words he said: You cannot discuss The National Agricultural Input Voucher Scheme (NAIVS) as it is today, without mentioning AGRA.
He said it is through their support (Agra) the input subsidy program aiming to increase the adoption of improved seed and fertilizer in smallholder maize and rice systems to raise productivity and improve food security, was seen as a success 2 years after its establishment.
Since 2008/09, approximately TZS 480 billion has been invested in helping 2.5 million farmers, by distributing vouchers that subsidize half of the price of a package of improved seed and fertilizer that farmers obtain with the vouchers from private dealers at market prices.
In this programme where Farming households that cultivate no more than 1 hectare (approximately 2.4 acres) of maize or paddy and could afford the top-up payment for the input package are selected into the NAIVS subsidy program, made peasant to change their behavior.
The aim of the NAIVS inputs, were to introduce the use of chemical fertilizer to households who would not otherwise have tried this input, so as to intensify food production in areas with high agro-ecological potential for producing the two staple foods.
NAIVS which started with 740,000 household beneficiaries in 2008/09 and then expanded to 1,511,900 households in 2009/10 and 2,011,000 household received a total of six million vouchers in 2010/11.
The number of beneficiaries in 2011/12 season decreased a bit because the first-round (2008/09) beneficiaries of NAIVS had graduated from the program. On average, the amount of NAIVS expenditure on each household beneficiary was USD 51 in 2009/10, USD 33 in 2010/11 and USD 41 in 2011/12.
The program 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 program is a direct result of the assistance given from Agra.
“Several of these companies either in seed or fertilizer are investing more in developing wholesale to retail marketing chains, and in the provision of private technical advice to encourage smallholders to continue to purchase their products” said Dr Msolla.
However, according to Dr Msolla before establishing the voucher system, Agra looked at the key problem in distribution system and helped to training agro dealers through CNFA.
With their certificates in their hands, these retailers managed to secure bank loans to buy input for their allocated areas in different localities.
The main aim of doing this is to create a situation whereby agro dealers will respond to the need of the peasants in the village and reduce, for that matter, distance covered to get inputs.
They also assisted non government institutions which deal with agriculture to identify and help peasants to acquire necessary knowledge to reduce their dependence on shifting cultivation and utilize available knowledge to equip them with a desire to have fat yields.
To make a story a success Dr Msola said, Agra also embarked in ensuring the right seed and fertilizer for the peasants.
“Their contributions to ensure changes in the Agricultures were so immense that you can’t ignore it. From research to the market, they helped the government and the people to ensure that peasants are coming out of poverty by having necessary ingredients in the right time to engage them in profitable agriculture. And it is here black and white” said Dr Msolla.
Yes, black and white, and within short of time peasants have grown to know what they want. First Published at Pamoma.com