To Market, to market...

On our field trip, we also stopped by markets. The largest one was Kibaigwa market, where maize, sunflower seed, sorghum, millet, peanut, and pea buyers and sellers meet. It's the largest grain market in Tanzania and we saw piles of maize, which is the staple in the local diet. In many ways they have developed a good local system, but there is room for improvement in post-harvest management and grades and standards, which would provide benefits to the farmer and the consumer.

In addition, we also stopped at a small market along the road where produce was sold, and it was fascinating to watch as the merchants swarmed our car and came towards the wazungu (foreigners), but we threw up our hands and said it was actually our driver who was the one who wanted to make some purchases. Desperately each person brought the best of their produce for him to inspect.

SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY: soko means market

Field Trip to the Fields

The first week in November, I got a chance to travel from Dar es Salaam through Morogoro to Dodoma, the capital in the center of the country. Along this journey I had the chance to meet with farmers, extension workers, local government officials, professors of agriculture, and management of the largest grain market in the country. Going on this field trip literally to the fields was extremely helpful for increasing my knowledge and awareness of the conditions facing agriculture in Tanzania.

A few impressions:
-there are exciting developments and lots of potential
-the areas we visited were much drier than I expected, and irrigation was often cited as a need by farmers
-the 2 lane road stretching through the central part of the country is fairly decent, but anything beyond that is guaranteed to be dirt or sand and bumpy
-saw a lot of charcoal - a livelihood for many of the poor, since this is a primary source of fuel, but it unfortunately leads to Tanzania having one of the highest rates of deforestation. How do you balance the challenges of poverty with farmland, pastoralist land, and forests?

The pictures included here are: women's group in Mlandizi with a greenhouse where they are growing green peppers; farmer's association that is growing tomatoes and will soon install drip irrigation; the president of the farmer's association; discussing the new vineyard with agriculture extension agents and farmers.

SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY: shamba is a field or farmland