Tanzania Mtumba program 1600-2013

Stories: September 15, 2008

Reference: TZS = Tanzanian Shilling

During one of MRWTC’s  (Mtumba Rural Women Training Centre's) recent business tours of one village, they met several SACCOS (Savings And Credit Co-Operative Societies) members working in their fields. Their stories are as follows:

 
Anania, pictured above, started to cultivate sunflower this year after attending one of the many workshops organized by ICDI. He had also seen sunflower on the demonstration farm at MRWTC and had visited the oil expeller at the center. He said the above factors greatly attracted his attention and he thought he could make a lot more income and change his livelihood and that of his family. After investigating the price of oil and its marketability, he took a 200,000 TZS ($175) loan from the SACCOS which helped him and his wife to manage oilseed production.

He has already earned 300,000 TZS (over $260) from groundnuts and is expecting to earn 200,000 TZS ($175) from sesame. He is also expecting to get five bags from his one acre of sunflowers, which will be processed into oil at an expected profit of 247,500 ($217). With these earnings, Anania plans to pay for fees for his two children attending private secondary school.

 
Evelyn (above with children) and Joab were married in 1989. In the past, the family was only able to prepare a quarter-acre garden, earning an annual income of 480,000 TZS ($421).   Today they have expanded their garden to approximately one acre and are reaping the same amount per harvest. In four harvests, the family was able to earn 1,920,000 TZS ($1684). Because of the gardening business, the family is able to pay fees for two of their four children. They have also built a modern house and plan to buy a motorbike to enhance mobility, access garden inputs more easily, and conduct market research.

The success of their gardening is attributed to the various trainings provided by MRWTC in production and marketing.  The family now sells its produce to the market directly because the price there is much better than in the village.