Sustainable Horticulture in Tanzania

Requesting party and partners

Green Valley Agro (GVA) Tanzania

TVET Horticultural Training & Research Institute – Horti-Tengeru

TVET MATI Uyole

The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT)

TARI Ilonga

TARI Kifyulilo

TARI Dakawa Mvomero

Consortium partners Q-point

Inholland university of applied sciences

Profyta B.V.

HZPC B.V.

The involved institutions

Green Valley Agro (GVA) is a private agricultural and horticultural training center in Tanzania, specializing in crop solutions for subtropical and tropical climates. With over 50 years of global seed and agricultural experience, GVA offers tailored solutions, integrated crop care, and training programs. Their Total Care Concept includes disease-resistant seeds, innovative technology, biological control, and climate-smart farming solutions. GVA operates in multiple African countries, focusing on edible horticulture and developing new cultivation techniques. They previously partnered in the OKP-TZA-10035 project to strengthen horticultural skills and training capacity.

The SAGCOT initiative, launched in 2010, aims to enhance agricultural productivity, food security, and poverty reduction through smallholder commercialization. It fosters market-oriented farming for small-scale growers and strengthens links with commercial agribusinesses. SAGCOT focuses on nine value chains, including tomatoes and potatoes, and ensures government involvement from national to local levels.

A-TVET Horticultural Research & Training Institute (Horti Tengeru) focuses on horticultural research and training, with an emphasis on vegetable seed production and plant propagation. A-TVET Mati Uyole offers courses in various agricultural fields, supported by donor agencies, NGOs, and private sponsors. They collaborated in the OKP-TZA-10035 project, and GVA continues to support them in greenhouse production. Both A-TVET institutions will be part of the TMT+ program, using their greenhouses for training.

Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) institutes. TARI Ilonga, established in 1943, is the Zonal Center for Research and Training in the Eastern zone, focusing on post-harvest management and various crops. TARI Dakawa, founded in 1984, specializes in rice research and sustainable farming systems. TARI-Kifyulilo, established in 1986, was originally focused on tea research and expanded to other crops like Irish potatoes, beans, and maize.

Context

In Tanzania, agriculture, particularly horticulture, plays a vital role in development, accounting for a significant portion of the GDP and employment. With a population growing by over a million annually, it’s crucial to modernize the agriculture sector. The Netherlands identifies Tanzania as a promising market for horticultural technology exports. However, small-scale farmers often lack the skills to meet international quality standards, leading to crop failure and excessive chemical use. To address these challenges, this TMT+ project focuses on tomato and potato cultivation, aiming to enhance productivity, food security, and exports. It promotes sustainable, climate-resilient farming methods, demonstrating efficient, closed growing systems that benefit both farmers and global food security.

Project goal and outputs

Joint collaboration and stronger linkages between A-TVETs, private training centres, and SAGCOT partnerships are key. Through these linkages, the main contribution of the project is to create improved (modernised) horticulture businesses and value chains, resulting in (1) a more attractive sector for youth to be involved in since there are more opportunities for (youth) employment, and (2) strengthening the (income) position of women who are primarily involved in the sector by amongst others, more opportunities for women in agribusiness.

The project will gear towards demand-driven innovations that take into account gender, youth and the environment while touching on aspects of quality seeds, climate-smart farming, new electronic technologies (sensors), irrigation, inclusive value chain management, post-harvest handling, food safety standards (GLOBALGAP, certification and export requirements), testing on residue levels (MRL), value addition to establish diversified and sustainable horticultural value chains.

The key challenge that is thereby addressed is the lack of technical and business skills and limited hands-on exposure of A-TVET staff, farmers and of youth who want to engage in horticulture. The project will identify, develop and implement practical training modules and demonstration programmes related to Food & Nutrition Security focusing on horticulture in partnership with sector stakeholders and experts in the various fields, mainly focussing on practical, technical and self-employment skills. Next to that, a focus will be on industry mentoring programs for start-ups to ensure an increase in opportunities for agribusiness.

The following deliverables will be executed during the project:

Training: Sustainable potato production (open field)

Training: Greenhouse management

Training: Post-harvest management

Training: International food safety standards

Training: Agro-based entrepreneurial skills development, marketing and trade

Training: Quality control and inspection
Centre of Excellence (CoE)

The CoE is also a place where innovative technologies in the field of irrigation, climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy etc, applicable to farming operations in Tanzania are demonstrated. Through the integration of sensors, various data sources are linked leading to the possibility to research causal relationships in these data, with which to take the control of the growth process of seeds and plants to a whole new level, which is not yet happening. New techniques are applied here, which is an innovative way and therefore requires the necessary technical skills.

Demonstration chemical use and GlobalG.A.P;

Implementation of GlobalG.A.P. in the greenhouses of GVA, Mati Uyole in Mbeya and Horti-Tengeru, to demonstrate safe production of vegetables. The team will develop a practical handbook for GlobalG.A.P implementation at the farmers’ level.

Green Juniors program

To connect education (Mati Uyole, Horti Tengeru, TARI Ilonga, TARI Kifyulilo and TARI Dakawa Mvomero) with the private sector (farmers, processors and agri-input suppliers) and create a reciprocal exchange of knowledge and experiences.

Relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

For this TMT+, we focus on Food and Nutrition Security (SDG 2: End hunger, achieve improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture)

and Renewable Energy (SDG 7: Affordable, sustainable energy) whereby the following items are an integrated part of the project:

Sustainable agriculture in the areas of horticultural seeds
Climate-smart agriculture
Re-using waste of the production (composting), with the output of natural gas and compost and compost tea.

Deepening value chains (agriculture and horticulture)
Using new technology to detect diseases in a pre-phase.
Producing our biological predators.
Closed growing systems, to minimize water usage and inputs like NPK, using compost and others.
Improved agricultural productivity
Entrepreneurship (creating business opportunities and jobs) and youth employability
Vocational training by the involvement of ATVETs and training centres
Implement linkages between TVETs, farmers, and the private sector