The Netherlands Development Organisation SNV has announced plans to spend US $30million for the implementation of a climate change resilient agribusiness project in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Geoffrey Isote, Monitoring officer for the project in Central zone confirmed the report and said that the the project, which started in July 2018, up to May 2023 was being implemented in Southern Highlands Zone comprising Iringa, Katavi, Mbeya and Songwe regions and in the Central Zone which consists of Dodoma and Singida regions. Around 100,000 farmers will are projected to be reached during the five-year implementation period.
“Our main target is to improve the value chain in millet, Irish potatoes, sunflowers and beans. We are actually targeting the peasant, especially the low income, to move from subsistence farming to productive agriculture by increasing his/her income using a small area to harvest more crops of high quality,” said Isote.
Demand crop
Project Manager for Musoma Food Co Ltd, Mr Samson Msigwa, who is implementing the Climate Resilient Agribusiness for Tomorrow (CRAFT) project on millet in Mkalama and Manyoni districts in Singida region, said his company decided to chip in after realizing that the demand for the crop was greater than the supply from the farmers.
“Agriculture is essential to the economies of East African countries. Climate change, with its effects on temperature and precipitation, threatens this important economic activity,” said Mr Samson Msigwa.
