June 9, 2009

ACDI/VOCA Helps Launch Smallholder Commercial Hub in Tanzania

On June 8, over 150 people attended the launch of a smallholder farmer commercial hub at Mailer Farm in Usa River, Tanzania. Erected under ACDI/VOCA’s Tanzania Smallholder Horticulture Outgrower Promotion (SHOP) project with partners Kilmo Impact Tanzania (KIT) and Homegrown, the hub will be a commercially sustainable enterprise serving to connect smallholder Tanzanian farmers to export markets.

“Since October 2007, SHOP has been collaborating with KIT, a commercial farmers’ association, to produce export vegetables with MVG, a smallholder farmer group of outgrowers,” ACDI/VOCA-SHOP Chief of Party Alexander Fernando said. “The hub is the legacy of our intervention in the horticulture industry in Tanzania.”

The new enterprise features a collection center for grading and storing export vegetables, which is poised to serve hundreds of smallholder farmers in Arusha and Kilimanjaro. The center also has offices, fertilizer and chemical stores, a training center, farm equipment, demonstration plots, tunnels for growing specialty vegetables and 10 acres using drip irrigation.

Tanzania Horticultural Association Executive Director Jacqueline Mkindi said, “TAHA acknowledges and appreciates the great support from USAID through this project and commends the effective, results-focused implementation by project partners that sustainably benefits smallholder farmers and their families in northern Tanzania.”

ACDI/VOCA’s two-year, USAID-funded SHOP project fosters economic growth by strengthening horticulture export market linkages and domestic farm-to-market channels for high-value vegetables through increased productivity and improved management of natural resources. SHOP does this by establishing strong, mutually beneficial commercial relationships among smallholder farmers, associations and buyers.

To learn more about SHOP, click here.