Over one million people in the East Africa are expected to benefit from the banana and sweet potato farming project which is meant to address food security and poverty in Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, officials said on Thursday.
Funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the newly- launched four-year project dubbed "Seed, Farmer, Market and Consumer (SeFaMaCo)" is to be implemented by Farm Concern International (FCI), an Africa-wide market development agency.
Speaking at the official launch of the project held in Moshi, Kilimanjaro region on Thursday, FCI’s Africa Director David Ruchiu said the project provides an opportunity to Africans in addressing underdevelopment."We envisaged a partnership which will translate into engaging hundreds of thousands of farmers as respectable players in sweet potato and banana value chain in three countries," Ruchiu said.
"Luckily for Africa 60 percent of arable unutilized farmland is in Africa.
"It will therefore require a concerted effort particularly in Africa to seize the opportunity.
"This cannot and will not be done by one single individual or one organization.
"That’s why our future is in partnerships," he said.
Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner Leonidas Gama hailed the new project, saying this would make Tanzania an extra millage.
He called on smallholder farmers to chip in and seriously embark into full production of banana and sweet potatoes because of its nutritious value and economic viability.
"It is high time for Tanzanian farmers to explore skills and knowledge embedded in the project," Gama said, "Let’s get interest in acquiring skills so that we know how to fish.
"And don’t be interested in being given fish."
According to Gama, the project came at a prime time when there is an outcry for Tanzanian farmers to embark into value chain for more productivity.
Stanley Mwangi, FCI’s SeFaMaCo programme team leader, said the project is to benefit about 192,000 household across the three African nations, or one million people equivalently.
"SeFaMaCo is here to realize those potentials," he said, calling on farmers in the region to explore the benefits which are offered by banana and sweet potatoes farming.
He said that bananas are one of the most important staple crops in East and Central Africa and are mainly cultivated by smallholder farmers.
Twahir Nzallawahe, director of crop development in Tanzania’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, called on smallholder farmers to get into the project because of its multiple benefits.
The official hailed FCI for coming up with such project, saying this is a very unique project in Tanzania
