Tanzania, Africa Strengthening skills and training capacity in the horticulture sector in Tanzania

Youth unemployment is a major challenge in Tanzania, especially in rural areas due to a lack of quality education and training, and business and entrepreneurial skills. The horticulture sector dominates the rural economy, with most production coming from small-scale growers who use traditional methods. However, there is a growing need for smart farming practices to increase productivity, improve predictability, and reduce the use of pesticides and minerals.

Despite the government’s focus on commercialization and increasing the scale of production, the horticulture sector still needs to shift its focus from production to value-addition. Small-scale farmers lack the skills and knowledge needed to meet domestic and international quality and food safety standards. Additionally, there is a training gap in the sector, with a lack of practical and technical education and skills on farming practices, value chain, food safety standards, logistics, and entrepreneurship.

The project focused on the horticulture sub-sector in Tanzania. It was based on the fundamental notion that improving the quality and employability of A-TVET graduates should be based on the needs in the labour market. In Tanzania, The National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) and three A-TVET colleges were capacitated to introduce gender sensitive and market-driven (blended learning) programs and to perform inclusive value chain management, food safety, production teaching, technology transfer and industry extension (incl. apprenticeships).

The project focused on four main output areas:

1. curriculum review and development
2. institutional capacity development at NACTE and 3 A-TVETs
3. entrepreneurship development
4. the establishment of a triple helix horticulture innovation platform.

The project capacitated the organization’s employees in providing skills-based training programs addressing practical and technical education gaps. Blended learning was used to address capacity challenges, and smart farming practices were introduced to increase productivity, predictability, and sustainability. The project aimed to attract a new generation of young farmers by promoting the development of the horticulture sector systematically.

Specific attention was paid to inclusion of women and disadvantaged groups. Labour market relevance and public-private partnerships (Tanzania-Dutch) were key elements of the project approach.

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• Curriculum development
• Development of triple helix horticulture innovation platform
• Training on:
  • Quality management
  • Food safety
  • Value addition
  • Value chain management
  • Linkage private sector
  • Gender mainstreaming
  • Entrepreneurship

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture (SDG 2). The Long-term impact is defined as follows:

1. Reduce malnutrition;
2. Promote agricultural growth;
3. Ecologically sustainable food systems.

The following medium-term impact will contribute to this:

1. Education system (TVET/HE) is of good quality, relevant and accessible (SDG 4);
2. Partnerships between persons and organisations are inclusive and sustainable (SDG17);