This year, SUGECO, in collaboration with TAPBDs Company, is implementing the “Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AIDI-II) Project, funded by USAID through CIMMYT and AGRA. The project is implemented in Morogoro, Njombe, and Iringa Regions. The project is in response to the impacts of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war that have escalated to food security challenges in the southern part of Africa. These global crises have resulted in unprecedented impacts, including the rise in the cost of fuel, agriculture inputs (seeds, fertilizers), and food imports. The consequences are more borne by small-holder farmers.

 AIDI-11's focus is on scaling food security technologies to the last mile for 1 billion households in Tanzania by 2024. The goal of the project is to scale food security technologies to the last mile for 1 million households in Tanzania by 2024.

Objectives

1.    Increase sustainable production of the target crops through a market-pull approach.

2.    Increase the production and utilization of high-quality seeds and fertilizer, including lime.

3.    Enhance the operational and coordination capacity of the domestic seed and fertilizer markets.

4.    Enhance the implementation capacity of local institutions and regional actors.

5.    Enhance the resilience of small-scale farmers by enhancing their capacity to set up and disseminate agronomic and soil fertility management.

Role of SUGECO in this project

1.    Capacity-building support for youth-led enterprises

2.    Recruit and train VBA’s (youth and women).

3.    Conduct an extension service event for farmers.

4.    Facilitate VBA’s to train farmers on extension skills and the use of improved seeds and fertilizers.

5.    Support the internship of youth in agribusiness through agri-SMEs and farmer organizations.

6.    Support youth and women to establish QDS (for the promoted bean seed varieties).

7.    Promote the adoption of various extension and land use technologies for sustainable farming.

SUGECO, through the Feed the Future program, awarded a project entitled “Introducing Post-Harvest Loss Technologies to Unlocking the Business Potential of Horticultural Value Chains in Morogoro, Tanzania." It is a three-year project that will be implemented in Lubungo Village, Mvomero District, and Morogoro Region.

The objective of this project is to contribute to the KTA strategic objective, which aims to increase access to commercially provided and productivity-enhancing agricultural technologies. The proposed project aims to give farmers access to postharvest handling facilities for vegetable and fruit crops (sweet melon, okra, cucumber, and bitter guards, etc.) grown by youths and women in Morogoro and surrounding regions.

In this project, SUGECO will use the KBM model with contractual arrangements such as contracts with buyers in farming and the supply of the agreed value chains, contracts between SUGECO and producers on farming and the use of installed facilities, data generation, and documentation for learning and upscaling.

About Feed the Future Tanzania Kilimo Tija Project

Feed the Future Tanzania Kilimo Tija Project (hereafter referred to as the Kilimo Tija Activity or KTA) is a five-year project, worth $37.9 million that will transform the Tanzanian horticulture market system into a more vibrant, competitive, resilient, and inclusive one capable of fueling sustained growth and drawing in new market participants. Through the Kilimo Tija Project, horticulture-related enterprises, smallholders, and producer organizations—especially youth will benefit from improved commercial access to productive technologies and training to help them produce quality fresh and processed fruits and vegetables for an expanding and diverse market of domestic and international buyers.

Project Name: The Implementation of UNDP Empowerment activities for the Kigoma Joint Programme (KJPII)

Client: United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Tanzania

Implementer: Sokoine University Graduates Entrepreneurs Cooperative (SUGECO).

Beneficiaries: The initiative will work with 400 beneficiaries, in phase one (October – December) 60% of whom will be women. 4,000 will have access to direct support and are envisaged to employ four youths, each of whom will engage in planting, weeding, harvesting, grading, and value addition. Indirect beneficiaries also include drivers and food vendors making a total of 1,600 beneficiaries.

Timeline: October – December 2023

Location: Kasulu and Kibondo District Councils, Kigoma.

Category: Capacity building

Project Overview

Women and youths in the Kigoma Region (Kasulu and Kibondo Districts) are economically disadvantaged due to discrimination at multiple levels, including employment, heritage, leadership, and the law. In addition to their traditional responsibilities, women perform the majority of agricultural work; however, their share of the economic benefits from this labor is minimal. Education and partnerships with women's and youth organizations, cooperatives, and groups are suggested as methods for increasing women's awareness of their economic and social rights and privileges. SUGECO's plans to partner with UNDP to offer technical backstopping on farming (Good Agricultural Practices-GAP), business and entrepreneurship skills training, and leadership development are specifically designed to enhance women's and youth empowerment through targeted skills training, access to business, marketing, and supportive access to productive resources, and self-employment in high-value, productive agribusinesses value chain. These organizational strategies, in collaboration with other regional stakeholders, are crucial measures toward the empowerment and freedom of women and youth.

Project Objective

To support UNDP effort to empower youth and women economically. In alignment with UNDP core values of empowerment, inclusion, and engagement, SUGECO will focus on two key components for the proposed intervention to effectively engage and empower youth and women,

1.        Economic participation – offering farming technical skills, building life skills, financial literacy, and business development skills to increase their employment and entrepreneurship potential in agricultural and agribusiness value chain activities; and 

2.       Leadership – strengthening their ability to serve in leadership roles in their communities and local government. It is anticipated that the proposed economic and leadership activities will build the confidence, knowledge, and skills of women resulting in their increased participation in agribusiness ventures and engagement in local government elections (October 2024) as voters, and as possible Village Council leadership contestants.

Project Activities and Implementation

SUGECO will reach out to four Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS) totaling over 120 individuals that will be dedicated to the most vulnerable age group. A positive youth development approach will be used to adapt all aspects of the program, with an emphasis on cultivating life skills for healthy living, as well as offering leadership, business, and entrepreneurship skills training geared toward youth and women. Lessons learned from the UNDP-sponsored KJPI will be used to expand networking and collaboration opportunities to build capacity for this new youth initiative. 

The proposed women’s empowerment and skills training model will include:

1.       Basic Agribusiness Skills and Entrepreneurship Training (up to 14 days)-- train unemployed women and youth from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds living in rural communities, the majority of whom are standard seven and secondary school leavers or dropouts who failed to proceed with school as a special group of youth out of school out of jobs.

2.       Advanced Leadership Skills Training (up to 5 days) –interactive leadership skills training designed to cultivate confidence, and life skills for healthy living, with an emphasis on nutrition, healthy families, and an awareness of women’s rights and gender equality about accessing health care, water, nutrition, education, land ownership, and credit.

3.     Business Mentorship and Coaching/Consulting Services – offer expert agribusiness development consultation and support for program participants integrated into the Basic Training, drawing on SUGECO’s resource people from their Fact-Based Advocacy and Business Information Services and the Youth Entrepreneurs Incubator Program; and

4.       Emerging Best Practices Panel– create a panel of program graduates, business faculty, industry leaders, and policy and research advocates (profiling successful business women and community leaders), who will be invited to share their knowledge, networking connections, and evidence-based best practice experiences to cultivate business development skills, as part of the Advanced Leadership Development Training.