More than 62,000 smallholder farmers across Tanzania have taken part in training provided by the World Vegetable Center – Eastern and Southern Africa (WorldVeg), under the Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) project aimed at strengthening vegetable production systems.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, WorldVeg Tanzanian Program Manager, Colleta Ndunguru, said the initiative, launched in 2023, supported farmers in Arusha, Manyara, Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar. "The project helped farmers formalise their businesses and distributed quality vegetable seeds to over 10,500 households," she said. Over 10,000 seed producers were trained, of which 52% were women and 29% youth.
The Director of the Zanzibar Agricultural and Livestock Research Institute, Abdallah Ibrahim Ali, said WorldVeg advanced fruit and vegetable farming in the country, adding that more than 446,000 vegetable seedlings were distributed nationwide.
CIMMYT Country Coordinator, Peter Ojukwu, said the initiative contributed to tackling hunger and malnutrition by supporting quality seed systems and providing training to smallholder farmers.
Farmers reported higher yields and income as a result of the training. Some onion producers noted that their harvests had tripled during the program.
The project was funded by CIMMYT and implemented with partners including RIKOLTO, World Vision, and the Ministry of Tourism and Heritage in Zanzibar.
Source: The Citizen
