By Noah Lusaka,
Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN)
Introduction
Karagwe district in Kagera region of Tanzania is
endowed with good environmental conditions suitable for large scale production
of coffee bananas, beans, maize and fruits like pineapples, livestock
production and much more. A recent Agricultural stakeholders meeting held at
Karagwe (Feb 2012) identified the many opportunities that enhance agricultural
production in the district. This includes availability of stable rains, electricity,
information and communication technology facilities, many NGOs involved in
Agricultural production, good storage facilities and two airports. Despite all these favourable conditions, all
is not rosy when it comes to production activities by farmers. Some of the
impediments inhibiting production by farmers include: lack of knowledge on pest
and diseases management for crops and livestock, reliance on rainfall fed
production systems, lack of access to credit due to undemarcated land, lack of certified seeds, lack of agricultural
training institutions and lack of extension staff (wataalaam), lack of stable
markets, a culture not adopting new technologies, climate change, GOT policies
that interfere with trading for example prohibiting sale of products to Uganda
among many other factors.
Why
sustainable Agriculture for Karagwe communities?
The Family Alliance for Development and Cooperation (FADECO) is a local
NGO with a mission to promote food production to alleviate poverty at house
hold level. Through a partnership programme with Kenya Institute for Organic
Farming (KIOF), a training curriculum focusing on sustainable Agriculture has
been developed. Targeting school leavers interested in pursuing agriculture,
FADECO had a first intake of 11 students (6 women and 5 men) in November 2011
drawn from within Karagwe district and beyond. The residential training takes
place at ‘Eden centre for appropriate technology’ situated at Nyakasimbi
village about 35 km from Kayanga town towards the Rwanda border. 
“As an
institution, our main goal is to impart sustainable agriculture skills to the
youth so they can pick up farming as a business using modern technologies. Many
farmers in Karagwe still practice traditional farming hence the need to adopt
new technologies for improved production and incomes” remarked Mr. Joseph
Sekiku the Director of FADECO. He
explained further as follows: There is a
lot that can be gotten from agricultural production to improve community
livelihoods in Karagwe, but there isn’t enough effort by communities coupled
with lack of newer farming knowledge and diversification of enterprises. This knowledge
gap gave impetus for FADECO to initiate a certificate course lasting 18 months
that will enable students gain skills and knowledge on sustainable agricultural
techniques hence empowering them to engage with the farming community in Karagwe
with new ideas and knowledge.
Mr. Sekiku is a pioneer of many initiatives in Karagwe and recently won
the 2011 SEED award given by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in
recognition of enabling women access to profitable markets by developing a
toolkit for value added post harvest solar fruit drying in Eastern Africa. By
helping entrepreneurs to scale-up their activities, the SEED Initiative aims to
boost local economies, tackle poverty and improve livelihoods while promoting
the sustainable use of resources and ecosystems. This will be awarded in March
2012 at a high level ceremony in South Africa. Among the many other accolades include ASHOKA fellow awarded in 2007, pioneering
community radio in Karagwe, post office at Nyakasimbi and much more.
A
tour of the Eden Centre for appropriate Technology
The Eden centre for appropriate technology is a dream
come true for Karagwe communities. Established in 2007, the centre has a goal
of promoting appropriate rural technologies and land rehabilitation through
demonstrations, by availing information resources and community empowerment.
Among
the many technologies at the centre include a hub for information and
communication technologies (ICTs), renewable energy technologies like solar
drying, solar energy, wind energy, water harvesting, zero grazing, piggery, bio-fuel
trials and innovative farming technologies.
The vibrant Nyakasimbi Maarifa centre
The Nyakasimbi community Maarifa (knowledge) centre is
a fully fledged information and communications hub that offers free access to information
and knowledge resources on sustainable development. The centre supports
communities in documentation of local knowledge and experiences in an effort to
facilitate information exchange among communities, experts, research
institutions and much more. The Maarifa centre project was invigorated in
August 2011 following a tripartite partnership among Renewable World (UK) Arid
Lands Information Network (ALIN – headquartered in Kenya) and FADECO (TZ).
Equipped with modern information and communication technologies, the centre has
a VSAT installed for Internet access, five computers for basic skills training,
three computers for information access via Internet, a library equipped with
research reports, newsletters and books.
Other
multimedia resources at the maarifa include DVDs, digital photography,
camcorder for film making and much more. The centre runs on solar and wind
energy hybrid as a demonstration of green energy technologies. Communities including resident agriculture students
access various information resources and capacity building on IT skills for
poverty reduction.
“We started the IT training in January 2012
and it has become quite competitive. The centre has registered over 108 trainees’
categorized as youth (75%), farmers 10%, business community (10%) and workers (15%)
from within Karagwe. Majority of the trainees come from far hence pair up to
meet their accommodation costs at Nyakasimbi market. We’ve scheduled the
trainees to attend two hour sessions every day. Given that we have five
computers allocated for training, during each session we handle 10 trainees of
which two share one computer. Since we have four sessions per day, we manage 40
trainees everyday! Remarked Miss
Zawadi Peter the IT trainer at the Maarifa centre.
According
to the Field Officer Mrs. Abella Eustace the maarifa centre is gradually
gaining popularity among communities. However, a lot needs to be done to reach
out to the communities and partners so they can learn the potential of using
the maarifa centre facilities and information resources to improve their
livelihoods.
The
Sustainable Agriculture training unit
The
sustainable agriculture training department offers an eighteen month
certificate training targeting youth school leavers and farmers. The department
has 11 students and two trainers. Among the many facilities and equipment for
training students include: Land for demonstration of various farming
enterprises and technologies, farming equipment that includes two tractors, a
zero grazing unit, water harvesting for food production, solar food drying,
agroforestry, woodlots apiary and much more.
Meet
Elina a young farmer in Action
Elina Justus a 21 year old girl from Orumushaka village, Karagwe
district was enrolled to undertake the certificate course starting from
November 2011. “After I did my fourth form at Nyakahanga mixed government
school in 2010, I did not get good grades to enable me pursue university
education. As a young girl I felt I should support my parents with farming
activities. When I heard about the opportunity to learn sustainable agriculture
at Eden centre, I informed my parents who agreed to support me. In addition, we
do not have an extension staff in our village an idea that my parents
acknowledged. I plan to pursue agricultural studies up to degree level to
support our country improve in agricultural production.
At
the Eden centre, we learn theories and also undertake practical activities in
the field. I’ve dug over 10 double dug beds as a start and will plant diverse
crops including onions, tomatoes and vegetables. I enjoy the lessons as we do
lots of practices. When we close school, I now have new ideas to train my
parents and willing neighbours. Thanks to FADECO for this pioneering course.
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