NECOFA Tanzania country report

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The Country Group of Necofa Tanzania was formally established on 4th Jan, 2004 at the end of the 1st National Eco – farming Sensitization workshop that was held in Morogoro Tanzania from 3rd to 4th Jan, 2003 with financial assistance from DSE, Germany.  20 participants/ stakeholders attended the workshop with an invited moderator from Necofa Kenya.  The workshop participants included Researchers, Trainers, Farmers, Agricultural extension agents and Government officials who anonymously passed the constitution and agreed to form the country group of Necofa Tanzania as the founder members’.

 

 

LEGAL STATUS

 

Currently Necofa Tanzania operates in 6 regions namely Dar es Salaam, Iringa, Morogoro, Arusha, Dodoma and Mbeya with an elected Board of Directors operating from its headquarters in Morogoro.

 

The Board of Directors includes: -

Executive Director, who is also the country representative of Necofa Tanzania.

Deputy Executive Director

Secretary & Director of Finance Administration and Project Planning.

Director, Extension Services and Gender issues

 

 

 

MEMBERSHIP

 

Necofa, Tanzania has 68 members under the following categories:-

 

The drive towards recruitment of members is to have an outreach of Necofa, Tanzania by establishing a strong membership base with a representative in each region (Tanzania has 26 regions)

 

 

ON GOING ACTIVITIES

 

 

CHALLENGES

OVERALL CHALLENGES

 

The challenges facing NECOFA–TANZANIA and hence affecting the performance of eco-farming sector in Tanzania includes Production based, Infrastructural, Roles of key players, Environmentally based, Research & Development.

 

 

  1. Predominance of weekly organised small-scale producers (0.25 – 3.0 ha farms)
  2. Overeliance on trading in primary commodities (lack of value addition)

 

 

  1. Poor roads and telecommunication networks and markets
  2. Poor rural electrification and services
  3. High water, energy and telecommunication tariffs.

 

 

  1. Inefficiencies in key Agricultural marketing players
  2. Co-operatives (lack of membership empowerment)
  3. Farmers organisation (lack of capacity)
  4. Private sector (Nascent and Strategically weak)
  5. Human resources capacity (underutilized human resources)
  6. Illiteracy level hence low level of business and entrepreneurial skills

 

 

  1. Heavy reliance on traditional food and export crops
  2. Dilema and lack of know how to move to large scale
  3. Not a question of displacing smallholders but enhancing
  4. co-existence.
  5. Incompleteness or Shortfalls in the liberation drive
  6. Failures to articulate private sector needs for it to deliver
  7. Conflicting legislations e.g. Current mandates of Boards
  8. Overly imposing mandates of crop Boards

 

 

  1. Shifting cultivation
  2. Wanton tree felling for firewoods and timber
  3. Firebreaks
  4. Human activities along or near water sources and on the slopes of mountains
  5. Heavy use of chemo-synthetic fertilizers, plastic materials and pesticides.
  6. Overstocking
  7. Land tenure

 

 

  1. Multiple uncoordinated R & D interventions
  2. Inefficient ways to resource use, often conflicting, confusing
  3. Non existence of a single focused research and development
  4. Donor driven R & D
  5. Christmas tree syndrome in R & D

 

Overemphasis on ‘studies’ oriented Research rather than “Development/Pro-active” Research activities.

 

 

ORGANISATIONAL CHALLENGES

  1. Urge of voluntarism and Commitment need to be encouraged
  2. Effect of Top-down approach accrued from delayed involvement and convergence of stakeholder’s sensitization workshops
  3. & seminars.

 

 

  1. Lack of finance for normal operative functions and organizational development.

 

 

STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING ECO-FARMINGPRODUCTION SYSTEM AND MARKETING

  1. Financial facilitation for smallholder formers may be enhanced through establishment of community banks/credit schemes and SACCOS (Saving and Credit Co-operative Societies) within Necofa Country groups.

 

 

 


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