Agricultural Development in Tanzania: MIVARF Task Stakeholders on better practice

By Temitope Musowo

 According to Word Economic Forum 2016,Agriculture is a major source of revenue for the Tanzania government, contributing more than a quarter of the country's GDP, employing up to 80% of the workforce, and providing 85 % of the country's exports.

After Tourism, Agriculture is another area of priority of the Tanzanian government,a sector that is enjoying the support both local and international organisations.

Marketing Infrastructure Value Addition and Rural Finance (MIVARF,though a programme of the Tanzanian government, is one of such organisations designed to promote the development of agriculture in Tanzania. 

MIVARF programme as being funded  by foreign partners like IFAD,ADB, started about seven years ago,though, supposedly ended last year December,has been extended for another two years,hence,the need for MIVIRF to bring together all stakeholders through a capacity building programme to do a review of the programme and chat a way forward for sustainability. 

The essence of the stakeholders workshop which was concluded recently was to ensure that all parties involved in the agricultural value chain across the country  are well linked together, established for a sustainable mutual operation even long after the foreign partners are out of the programme. 

According  to Mr Leonard Muhoni, an Agri-business and Marketing specialist with MIVARF ,handling the Producer Empowerment and Marketing linkage component. Who spoke with Devcom Nigeria at the Nyakahoja Conference Centre,venue of the workshop in Mwanza,Mwanza Region of Tanzania, he said, "It is a stakeholders workshop which is more or less like an orientation workshop, following the extension of the programme for two years which ordinarily ended in December last year,so we gather all stakeholders together to chat the way forward in terms of orientation on how to implement the programme towards the end.

These includes officials from the Local Government Authorities, implementing agencies,Service Providers,private companies who are taking the capacity building to the smallholder producers,we also have officials from the regional offices, those who are dealing with the cooperative issues ,they are all represented here, we have representatives from the financial institutions who are also partner in the programme " Muhoni said.

Speaking about the approach being used to achieve result, he added, "Today we are looking at the consortium approach. This consortium approach is more of a trading platform where we have buyers or potential buyers who are not sure of where to get the produce,let's take paddy as an example, we have buyers and processors dealing in a large scale who find it it difficult to get their raw materials, in the other hand ,we have the smallholder producers who have difficulties understanding what the market is ,so,the programme is an ideal of having a platform where partners in this value chain come together, the sellers of farm inputs,financial service providers and the off takers,all meet together to trade ,whatever weakness any of the groups have within their enclave,take for instance, the smallholder farmer groups who are organised under Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society, AMCOS or SACOS come up with their needs with the buyers at the platform level".

He also noted that they usually have their similar workshop quarterly, where they meet with various stakeholders to have a review of their activities, how well they are  achieving their set objectives.

Mr Muhoni enjoyed the participants to note  that they had come to the end of the programme, now that the programme had been extended for another two years,they had to do things differently and also consolidate on what they have achieved before in their various programmes especially Marketing Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Financing. 

"We are consolidating on all these and we are doing it through the consortium approach, then we are reviewing some areas,for example, we change the number of service providers we were working with and they will be working hand in hand with others and their specific activities which they will have to and they will have to understand what the marketing requirements for the season is,so they just have to work together.

We have done quite a lot, so, basically, we are consolidating on what has been done. There have been construction of roads,construction of other facilities, capacity building for the smallholder producers, a lot has been achieved so we are consolidating on all these",Muhoni reiterated. 

Speaking with Devcom Nigeria also, one of the participants, a service provider, from the Sengerema District, facilitating linking farmers to the market through consortium model,Mr. James Wembe , who also explained the consortium approach as a platform through which  the Lead Firms,the big Buyers plan with the farmers in advance the amount required based on market specification in terms of quantity,quality and frequency as well as mode of delivery.

'''They plan together base on the market need,then farmers start producing to meet the market requirements unlike in the traditional way where farmers produce without market specification, but base on this consortium model,  the plan start with the market,both farmers and buyer dialogue through what we call pre season meeting and find the market need,by this we mean the produce market,the farm produce market which will enable the farmers know the farm input require, maybe ,fertilizer, improved seeds. The quantity and variety as demanded by the buyer in advance base on market specification ,then the financial requirements and how to link them to the financial market. So, this things are interconnected,  they work in a collaborative way and through the consortium model which is a businesses collaborative meeting, all stakeholders come together to take advantage of the business opportunity",explained Mr Wembe.

 He stated further that before the introduction of the approach ,traditionally, people were struggling to improve productivity but through the consortium approach challenges faced by farmers on market including storage,transport and so on are taken care of. 

''Market requirement determines the production pattern, how much the buyer will need from the financial institutions and the financial institutions become a part of the model because this is business for everyone, so this is different from the traditional way where farmers were at the center but here market is at the center of everything. 

The model  according to Mr James reduces cost for all stakeholders, the farmers, the buyers,input suppliers,financial institutions and so on,instead of going around to meet individual which incurs more cost in terms of overhead, this is reduced because the consortium model brings everybody together''. 

Talking about significance of the workshop, he said the programme afforded them the opportunity of profiling all potential stakeholders, the off takers,AMCOS,,input providers in their areas,who and who are into what,what are the challenge, how can they work together, what assistance is needed from them,do they need capacity building, what role will the government play and so on.

''So the participants are going with this action plan,so when we have all this information it will help all stakeholders to be well equipped to take advantage of business opportunity even outside their region because they have information about other regions as well'',he maintained.

He explained further on the sustainability of the model that there was contractual agreement between producers and buyers  as they usually sign memorandum of understanding, so also between farmers and financial institutions, between farmers and input suppliers as well,AMCOS stands in for the farmers as a body under which farmer producer groups come together 

"Another form of checks is the collective marketing,nobody sells outside of the consortium arrangement ,when their produce come in after harvesting, the AMCOS ensure that the loan obtained from the financial institutions is refunded, all the payments pass through the account and deductions are made directly before the farmers get their balance.

In case of defaults the measure put in place for recovery is insurance not just for defaults alone but if anything goes wrong in a particular planting season,then we also have the government as a regulatory body",Wembe concluded. 

The participants were asked to profile potential stakeholders in their areas during  a brake out session as different speakers took turn to make their presentation with emphasis on the consortium approach. 

Various stakeholders from different regions in the country turned out for the workshop which lasted for weeks.

Agricultural Development in Tanzania: MIVARF Task Stakeholders on better practice

Agricultural Development in Tanzania: MIVARF Task Stakeholders on better practice 

By Temitope Musowo 

 According to Word Economic Forum 2016,Agriculture is a major source of revenue for the Tanzania government, contributing more than a quarter of the country's GDP, employing up to 80% of the workforce, and providing 85 % of the country's export.

After Tourism, Agriculture is another area of priority of the Tanzanian government,a sector that is enjoying the support  of different organisations both local and international.

Market Infrastructure Value Addition and Rural Finance (MIVARF) is one of such organisations supporting the development of agriculture in Tanzania. 

Through its programme being funded  by foreign partners like IFAD,ADB, which started about seven years ago,though, supposedly ended last year December.  Being extended for another two years,hence,the need for MIVIRF to bring together all stakeholders through a capacity building programme to do a review of the programme and chat a way forward for sustainability. 

The essence of the stakeholders workshop which started last week was to ensure that all parties involved in the agricultural value chain across the country  are well linked together, established for a sustainable mutual operation even long after the foreign partners back out of the programme. 

According  to Mr Leonard Muhoni, an Agri-business and Marketing specialist with MIVARF ,handling the Producer Empowerment and Marketing linkage component. Who spoke with Devcom Nigeria at the Nyakahoja Conference Centre,venue of the workshop in Mwanza,Mwanza Region of Tanzania, he said, "It is a stakeholders workshop which is more or less like an orientation workshop, following the extension of the programme for two years which ordinarily ended in December last year,so we gather all stakeholders together to chat the way forward in terms of orientation on how to implement the programme towards the end.

These includes officials from the Local Government Authorities, implementing agencies,service providers,consortia,pravate companies who are taking the capacity building to the smallholder producers,we also have officials from the regional offices, those who are dealing with the cooperative issues ,they are all represented here, we have representatives from the financial institutions who are also partner in the programme " Muhoni said.

Speaking about the approach being used to achieve result, he added, "Today we are looking at the consortium approach. This consortium approach is more of a trading platform where we have buyers or potential buyers who are not sure of where to get the produce,let's take paddy as an example, we have buyers and processors dealing in a large scale who find it it difficult to get their raw materials, in the other hand ,we have the smallholder producers who have difficulties understanding what the market is ,so,the programme is an ideal of having a platform where partners in this value chain come together, the sellers of farm inputs,financial service providers and the off takers,all meet together to trade ,whatever weakness any of the groups have within their enclave,take for instance, the smallholder farmer groups who are organised under Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society, AMCOS or SACOS come up with their needs with the buyers at the platform level".

He also noted that they usually have their review workshop quarterly, where they meet with various stakeholders to have a review of their activities, how well they are  achieving their set objectives.

Mr Muhoni enjoyed the participants to note  that they had come to the end of the programme, now that the programme had been extended for another two years,they had to do things differently and also consolidate on what they have achieved before in their various programmes especially Marketing Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Financing. 

"We are consolidating on all these and we are doing it through the consortium approach, then we are reviewing some areas,for example, we change the number of service providers we were working with and they will be working hand in hand with others and their specific activities which they will have to and they will have to understand what the marketing requirements for the season is,so they just have to work together.

We have done quite a lot, so, basically, we are consolidating on what has been done. There have been construction of roads,construction of other facilities, capacity building for the smallholder producers, a lot has been achieved so we are consolidating on all these",Muhoni reiterated. 

Speaking with Devcom Nigeria,one of the participants, a service provider, from the Sengerema District, facilitating linking farmers to the market through consortium model,Mr. James Wembe , who also explained the consortium approach as a platform through which  the Lead Firms,the big Buyers plan with the farmers in advance the amount required besed on market specification in terms of quantity,quality and frequency as well as mode of delivery.

They plan together base on the market need,then farmers start producing to meet the market requirements unlike in the traditional way where farmers produce without market specification, but base on this consortium model,  the plan start with the market,both farmers and buyer dialogue through what we call pre season meeting and find the market need,by this we mean the produce market,the farm product market which will enable the farmers know the farm input require, maybe ,fertiliser, improved seeds. The quantity and variety as demanded by the buyer in advance base on market specification ,then the financial requirements and how to link them to the financial market. So, this thing are interconnected,  they work in a collaborative way and through the consortium model which is a businesses collaborative meeting all stakeholders come together to take advantage of the business opportunity",explained Mr Wembe.

 He stated further that before the introduction of the approach ,traditionally, people were struggling to improve productivity but through the consortium approach challenges faced by farmers on market including storage,transport and so on are taken care of. 

Market requirement determines the production pattern, how much the buyer will need from the financial institutions and the financial institutions become a part of the model because this is business for everyone, so this is different from the traditional way where farmers were at the centre but here market is at the centre of everything. 

The model  according to Mr James reduces cost for all stakeholders, the farmers, the buyers,input suppliers,financial institutions and so on,instead of going around to meet individual which incure more cost in terms of overhead, this is reduced because the consortium model brings everybody together. 

Talking about significance of the workshop he said the programme afforded them The opportunity profiling all potential stakeholders, the off takers,AMCOS,,input providers in their areas,who and who are into what,what are the challenge, how can they work together, what assistance is needed from them,do they need capacity building, what role will the government play and so on.

so the participants are going with this action plan,so when we have all this information it will help all stakeholders to be well equipped to take advantage of business opportunity even outside their region because they have information about other regions as well

He explained further on the sustainability of the model that there is contractual agreement between producers and buyers  ,they usually sign memorandum of understanding, so also between farmers and financial institutions, between farmers and input suppliers as well,AMCOS stands in for the farmers as a body under which farmer producer groups come together 

"Another form of checks is the collective marketing,nobody sells outside of the consortium arrangement ,when their produce come in after harvesting, the AMCOS ensure that the loan obtained from the financial institutions is refunded, all the payments pass through the account and deductions are made directly before the farmers get their balance.

In case of defaults the measure put in place for recovery is insurance not just for defaults alone but if anything goes wrong in a particular planting season,then we also have the government as a regulatory body",Wembe concluded. 

The participants were asked to profile potential stakeholders in their areas during  a brakeout session as different speakers took turn to make their presentation with emphasis on the consortium approach. 

Agricultural Development in Tanzania: MIVARF Task Stakeholders on better practice

Agricultural Development in Tanzania: MIVARF Task Stakeholders on better practice 

 According to Word Economic Forum 2016,Agriculture is a major source of revenue for the Tanzania government, contributing more than a quarter of the country's GDP, employing up to 80% of the workforce, and providing 85 % of the country's export.

After Tourism, Agriculture is another area of priority of the Tanzanian government,a sector that is enjoying the support  of different organisations both local and international.

Market Infrastructure Value Addition and Rural Finance (MIVARF) is one of such organisations supporting the development of agriculture in Tanzania. 

Through its programme being funded  by foreign partners like IFAD,ADB, which started about seven years ago,though, supposedly ended last year December.  Being extended for another two years,hence,the need for MIVIRF to bring together all stakeholders through a capacity building programme to do a review of the programme and chat a way forward for sustainability. 

The essence of the stakeholders workshop which started last week was to ensure that all parties involved in the agricultural value chain across the country  are well linked together, established for a sustainable mutual operation even long after the foreign partners back out of the programme. 

According  to Mr Leonard Muhoni, an Agri-business and Marketing specialist with MIVARF ,handling the Producer Empowerment and Marketing linkage component. Who spoke with Devcom Nigeria at the Nyakahoja Conference Centre,venue of the workshop in Mwanza,Mwanza Region of Tanzania, he said, "It is a stakeholders workshop which is more or less like an orientation workshop, following the extension of the programme for two years which ordinarily ended in December last year,so we gather all stakeholders together to chat the way forward in terms of orientation on how to implement the programme towards the end.

These includes officials from the Local Government Authorities, implementing agencies,service providers,consortia,pravate companies who are taking the capacity building to the smallholder producers,we also have officials from the regional offices, those who are dealing with the cooperative issues ,they are all represented here, we have representatives from the financial institutions who are also partner in the programme " Muhoni said.

Speaking about the approach being used to achieve result, he added, "Today we are looking at the consortium approach. This consortium approach is more of a trading platform where we have buyers or potential buyers who are not sure of where to get the produce,let's take paddy as an example, we have buyers and processors dealing in a large scale who find it it difficult to get their raw materials, in the other hand ,we have the smallholder producers who have difficulties understanding what the market is ,so,the programme is an ideal of having a platform where partners in this value chain come together, the sellers of farm inputs,financial service providers and the off takers,all meet together to trade ,whatever weakness any of the groups have within their enclave,take for instance, the smallholder farmer groups who are organised under Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society, AMCOS or SACOS come up with their needs with the buyers at the platform level".

He also noted that they usually have their review workshop quarterly, where they meet with various stakeholders to have a review of their activities, how well they are  achieving their set objectives.

Mr Muhoni enjoyed the participants to note  that they had come to the end of the programme, now that the programme had been extended for another two years,they had to do things differently and also consolidate on what they have achieved before in their various programmes especially Marketing Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Financing. 

"We are consolidating on all these and we are doing it through the consortium approach, then we are reviewing some areas,for example, we change the number of service providers we were working with and they will be working hand in hand with others and their specific activities which they will have to and they will have to understand what the marketing requirements for the season is,so they just have to work together.

We have done quite a lot, so, basically, we are consolidating on what has been done. There have been construction of roads,construction of other facilities, capacity building for the smallholder producers, a lot has been achieved so we are consolidating on all these",Muhoni reiterated. 

Speaking with Devcom Nigeria also, one of the participants, a service provider, from the Sengerema District, facilitating linking farmers to the market through consortium model,Mr. James Wembe , who also explained the consortium approach as a platform through which  the Lead Firms,the big Buyers plan with the farmers in advance the amount required besed on market specification in terms of quantity,quality and frequency as well as mode of delivery.

They plan together base on the market need,then farmers start producing to meet the market requirements unlike in the traditional way where farmers produce without market specification, but base on this consortium model,  the plan start with the market,both farmers and buyer dialogue through what we call pre season meeting and find the market need,by this we mean the produce market,the farm product market which will enable the farmers know the farm input require, maybe ,fertiliser, improved seeds. The quantity and variety as demanded by the buyer in advance base on market specification ,then the financial requirements and how to link them to the financial market. So, this thing are interconnected,  they work in a collaborative way and through the consortium model which is a businesses collaborative meeting all stakeholders come together to take advantage of the business opportunity",explained Mr Wembe.

 He stated further that before the introduction of the approach ,traditionally, people were struggling to improve productivity but through the consortium approach challenges faced by farmers on market including storage,transport and so on are taken care of. 

Market requirement determines the production pattern, how much the buyer will need from the financial institutions and the financial institutions become a part of the model because this is business for everyone, so this is different from the traditional way where farmers were at the centre but here market is at the centre of everything. 

The model  according to Mr James reduces cost for all stakeholders, the farmers, the buyers,input suppliers,financial institutions and so on,instead of going around to meet individual which incure more cost in terms of overhead, this is reduced because the consortium model brings everybody together. 

Talking about significance of the workshop he said the programme afforded them The opportunity profiling all potential stakeholders, the off takers,AMCOS,,input providers in their areas,who and who are into what,what are the challenge, how can they work together, what assistance is needed from them,do they need capacity building, what role will the government play and so on.

so the participants are going with this action plan,so when we have all this information it will help all stakeholders to be well equipped to take advantage of business opportunity even outside their region because they have information about other regions as well

He explained further on the sustainability of the model that there is contractual agreement between producers and buyers  ,they usually sign memorandum of understanding, so also between farmers and financial institutions, between farmers and input suppliers as well,AMCOS stands in for the farmers as a body under which farmer producer groups come together 

"Another form of checks is the collective marketing,nobody sells outside of the consortium arrangement ,when their produce come in after harvesting, the AMCOS ensure that the loan obtained from the financial institutions is refunded, all the payments pass through the account and deductions are made directly before the farmers get their balance.

In case of defaults the measure put in place for recovery is insurance not just for defaults alone but if anything goes wrong in a particular planting season,then we also have the government as a regulatory body",Wembe concluded. 

The participants were asked to profile potential stakeholders in their areas during  a brakeout session as different speakers took turn to make their presentation with emphasis on the consortium approach. 

We are achieving results in Agricultural Development through the consortium model -Muhoni

Mr Leonard Muhoni is an Agri-business and Marketing Specialist with Marketing Infrastructure Value  Addition and Rural Finance (MIVARF) Tanzania.,handling the Producer Empowerment and Marketing linkage component. Temitope Musowo tracked him down at the on going capacity building programme  for stakeholders m taking place at Nyakahoja Conference Centre in Mwanza,Mwanza Region of Tanzania,Mr Leonard bears his mind on the significance of the stakeholders meeting,the consortium approach and sundry issues,except:

Which organisation put this programme  together? 

It is a stakeholders workshop which is more or less like an orientation workshop, following the extension of the programme for two years which ordinarily ended in December last year,so we gather all stakeholders together to chat the way forward in terms of orientation on how to implement the programme towards the end.

Who are the various stakeholders that makes up this meeting? 

These includes officials from the Local Government Authorities, implementing agencies,service providers,consortia,pravate companies who are taking the capacity building to the smallholder producers,we also have officials from the regional offices, those who are dealing with the cooperative issues ,they are all represented here, we have representatives from the financial institutions who are also partner in the programme .

Today you are looking at the consortia approach, how will you explain this model to a layman on the street?

The consortium approach is more of a trading platform where we have buyers or potential buyers who are not sure of where to get the produce,let's take paddy as an example, we have buyers and processors dealing in a large scale who find it it difficult to get their raw materials, in the other hand ,we have the smallholder producers who have difficulties understanding what the market is ,so,the programme is an ideal of having a platform where partners in this value chain come together, the sellers of farm inputs,financial service providers and the off takers,all meet together to trade ,whatever weakness any of the groups have within their enclave,take for instance, the smallholder farmer groups who are organised under Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society, AMCOS or SACOS come up with their needs with the buyers at the platform level.

How often does this kind of programme come up?

We usually have our review workshop which comes up quarterly, where we meet with various stakeholders to have a review of our activities, how well are we achieving our set objectives.

What exactly are the participants expected to take home from this programme? 

In this meeting specifically, the take home for  the participants is that we have come to the end of the programme, now that the programme has been extended for another two years,we have to do things differently and also consolidate on what we have achieved before in our various programmes especially Marketing Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Financing, we are consolidating on all these and we are doing it through the consortium approach, then we are reviewing some areas,for example, we change the number of service providers we were working with and they will be working hand in hand with others and their specific activities which they will have to and they will have to understand what the marketing requirements for the season is,so they just have to work together.

We have done quite a lot, so, basically, we are consolidating on what has been done. There have been construction of roads,construction of other facilities, capacity building for the smallholder producers, a lot has been achieved so we are consolidating on all these. 

So much must have gone into all these,who is bankrolling the programme? 

This is a government programme, it is being financed by the Government of Tanzania, we also have our foreign partners, International Fund for Agricultural Development, (IFAD), African Development Bank, (AFDB), those are the organisations that  are financing it, the beneficiaries also contributing their own in terms of infrastructure investment, through the community coming up with 5 % of the investment cost,in the value addition investment, the beneficiaries are also making 25% contribution of the cost in terms of equipment and machines. 

In the course of carrying out my research, I observed that more attention is given to marketing while production don't seem to get same attention, why ?

That could be a misconception ,though, originally we designed it with the mind that that there are more issues with marketing than production ,but in the course of implementing the programme, we realised that we didn't have enough volumes  to market, so, we quickly adjust to take care of that. That was addressed long time ago. We ensure that the smallholder producers have access to finance, inputs, the right seed,fertiliser and so on so they can harvest more. This was not there by design initially but that has since been taken care of.

Talking about consortium we are talking about inputs and outputs, so we are taking care of the smallholder producers and they are transforming from subsistence farmers, we are talking of 0 - 5 acres,so there are  more efforts to ensuring increase in production. 

Are you also looking at irrigation scheme to ensure the farmers can produce all year round in order to meet up with the market demand?

That is actually a challenge but this programme by mandate is unable to look into that. That is being addressed by sharing the information with the Ministry of Agriculture, that this is what is needed to be done,irrigation scheme is capital intensive, we know this will enhance more production,but the government  is working towards that I believe. This programme has limitations in terms of investment you know,IFAD is doing more in the area of capacity building, the software aspect of it,so also AFDB have it's specific priority as well ,market places and storage facility. 

Your message for the students of University of Ibadan here on internship? 

My Messege is that this is a quite good learning opportunity, to have access to practical knowledge about what you have learnt in school, and also having an opportunity to demonstrate what have learnt in another environment ,you have to take advantage of this opportunity, you will learn a lot, some of the things you will learn you may have to go and apply back home as they fit into your environment. Make a good use of this opportunity. 

We are achieving results in Agricultural Development through the consortium model -Leonard

Mr Leonard Muhoni is an Agri-business and Marketing Specialist with Marketing Infrastructure Value  Addition and Rural Finance (MIVARF) Tanzania.,handling the Producer Empowerment and Marketing linkage component. Temitope Musowo tracked him down at the on going capacity building programme  for stakeholders m taking place at Nyakahoja Conference Centre in Mwanza,Mwanza Region of Tanzania,Mr Leonard bears his mind on the significance of the stakeholders meeting,the consortium approach and sundry issues,except:

Which organisation put this programme  together? 

It is a stakeholders workshop which is more or less like an orientation workshop, following the extension of the programme for two years which ordinarily ended in December last year,so we gather all stakeholders together to chat the way forward in terms of orientation on how to implement the programme towards the end.

Who are the various stakeholders that makes up this meeting? 

These includes officials from the Local Government Authorities, implementing agencies,service providers,consortia,pravate companies who are taking the capacity building to the smallholder producers,we also have officials from the regional offices, those who are dealing with the cooperative issues ,they are all represented here, we have representatives from the financial institutions who are also partner in the programme .

Today you are looking at the consortia approach, how will you explain this model to a layman on the street?

The consortium approach is more of a trading platform where we have buyers or potential buyers who are not sure of where to get the produce,let's take paddy as an example, we have buyers and processors dealing in a large scale who find it it difficult to get their raw materials, in the other hand ,we have the smallholder producers who have difficulties understanding what the market is ,so,the programme is an ideal of having a platform where partners in this value chain come together, the sellers of farm inputs,financial service providers and the off takers,all meet together to trade ,whatever weakness any of the groups have within their enclave,take for instance, the smallholder farmer groups who are organised under Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society, AMCOS or SACOS come up with their needs with the buyers at the platform level.

How often does this kind of programme come up?

We usually have our review workshop which comes up quarterly, where we meet with various stakeholders to have a review of our activities, how well are we achieving our set objectives.

What exactly are the participants expected to take home from this programme? 

In this meeting specifically, the take home for  the participants is that we have come to the end of the programme, now that the programme has been extended for another two years,we have to do things differently and also consolidate on what we have achieved before in our various programmes especially Marketing Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Financing, we are consolidating on all these and we are doing it through the consortium approach, then we are reviewing some areas,for example, we change the number of service providers we were working with and they will be working hand in hand with others and their specific activities which they will have to and they will have to understand what the marketing requirements for the season is,so they just have to work together.

We have done quite a lot, so, basically, we are consolidating on what has been done. There have been construction of roads,construction of other facilities, capacity building for the smallholder producers, a lot has been achieved so we are consolidating on all these. 

So much must have gone into all these,who is bankrolling the programme? 

This is a government programme, it is being financed by the Government of Tanzania, we also have our foreign partners, International Fund for Agricultural Development, (IFAD), African Development Bank, (AFDB), those are the organisations that  are financing it, the beneficiaries also contributing their own in terms of infrastructure investment, through the community coming up with 5 % of the investment cost,in the value addition investment, the beneficiaries are also making 25% contribution of the cost in terms of equipment and machines. 

In the course of carrying out my research, I observed that more attention is given to marketing while production don't seem to get same attention, why ?What's 

 That could be a misconception ,though, originally we designed it with the mind that that there are more issues with marketing than production ,but in the course of implementing the programme, we realised that we didn't have enough volumes  to market, so, we quickly adjust to take care of that. That was addressed long time ago. We ensure that the smallholder producers have access to finance, inputs, the right seed,fertiliser and so on so they can harvest more. This was not there by design initially but that has since been taken care of.

Talking about consortium we are talking about inputs and outputs, so we are taking care of the smallholder producers and they are transforming from subsistence farmers, we are talking of 0 - 5 acres,so there are  more efforts to ensuring increase in production. 

Are you also looking at irrigation scheme to ensure the farmers can produce all year round in order to meet up with the market demand?

That is actually a challenge but this programme by mandate is unable to look into that. That is being addressed by sharing the information with the Ministry of Agriculture, that this is what is needed to be done,irrigation scheme is capital intensive, we know this will enhance more production,but the government  is working towards that I believe. This programme has limitations in terms of investment you know,IFAD is doing more in the area of capacity building, the software aspect of it,so also AFDB have it's specific priority as well ,market places and storage facility. 

Your message for the students of University of Ibadan here on internship? 

My Messege is that this is a quite good learning opportunity, to have access to practical knowledge about what you have learnt in school, and also having an opportunity to demonstrate what have learnt in another environment ,you have to take advantage of this opportunity, you will learn a lot, some of the things you will learn you may have to go and apply back home as they fit into your environment. Make a good use of this opportunity.