A vegetable production and value addition project that started in 2023 in Zanzibar is now empowering smallholder farmers, of which majority are women, into boosting their household nutrition and income security.
The Southern Africa Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) project under the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and implemented by the World Vegetable Center, saw the farmers trained on modern agricultural technology and awareness of nutrient-rich crops such as amaranth—a vegetable high in fiber, protein, and essential micronutrients.
As Jeremiah Sigalla reports to CIMMYT, amaranth is one of the vegetable that the growers have been trained on its production and value addition.
The training covered good agricultural practices, as well as the cultivation and processing of grain amaranth into flour.
Mariam Salim from Mjini Ole village on Pemba Island, is among the women who are now embracing amaranth cultivation.
Along with 272 other farmers, 53% of whom are women, she attended a three-day training course on vegetable cultivation and value addition in July 2023 and since then she has never looked back.
“I discovered that I could produce my own seeds and amaranth flour,” she said. “This opened up new opportunities for me to take control of my farming practices and increase my self-sufficiency.”
Farmers who attended the training received seed kits containing eight varieties of nutritious traditional African vegetables, including African eggplant, African nightshade, amaranth, cowpea, and Ethiopian mustard.
Mariam now generates a new source of income by selling seeds to other farmers, helping to strengthen the broader agricultural community by improving access to quality seeds. Since the training, she has harvested 150 kg of seeds, selling them at a rate of US $450 in total. This has significantly boosted her household’s income security.
As the first woman in her community to embark on this initiative, Mariam is motivating other women to explore new opportunities in farming and food processing.
Thanks to the AID-I project which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID on Zanzibar Island, over 500 women have taken up home gardening, gaining access to high-quality vegetables for both family consumption and business ventures.
This has led to the introduction of new crop varieties and a rise in household vegetable consumption.
The World Vegetable Center encourages home gardening among women, with over 500 participants actively growing and processing vegetables into nutrient-rich packs.
By cultivating their own produce, these women not only provide nutritious food for their families but also earn income from surplus crops, improving both their households’ health and the well-being of the broader community.
