MVIWATA officially launches a 5 year Food System Supply Services in Rural Tanzania, designed to facilitate small-holder farmers’ access to economic justice.
In his remarks, MVIWATA Executive Director, Stephen Ruvuga reminded the participants on the role of peasant agriculture in Tanzania’s social, economic and political spheres. He reiterated the role of horticulture in the food system and in the economy. This fact, he further noted, has been there before independence and even after Independence, amid the reality that, our economies have been designed to also serve as the source of raw materials and food produces for other countries.
Baridi Sokoni (a swahili name for the Food System Supply Services in Rural Tanzania) is a project that will be implemented in 3 regions of Morogoro, Njombe, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar to effect on production and productivity through #agroecology; marketing and fair prices through developing rural based enterprise operated by small-holder farmers as well as Institutional growth (of MVIWATA, peasant groups and networks).
The launching was officiated by Morogoro Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS) who was represented by Dr Rozalia Rwegasira from Regional Secretariat as the Guest of Honour. Dr Rozalia applauded the great work that MVIWATA has been doing in MVIWATA with a number of flagship programs including the establishment of market infrastructures across the region and of uniting farmers through groups and networks. Dr. Rozalia commended also, the Baridi Sokoni program, which she added, the region sees as a great initiative towards agriculture and small-scale farmers livelihoods growth in the region.
In the course of implementation of this project, Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme will provide a grant of about 5.35 million USD, and African Development Bank will act as the supervising entity following the arrangement. MVIWATA will contribute US$ 250,000 as the local contribution to uplift the budget to US$ 5.6 million as the total budget for the programme.
Read the Press Release below
