COVER STORY: Small seeds that are transforming lives in Mtwara

Death not only robbed Sophia Mohammed Malivata of an important person in her life, her husband, but it took to the grave her hopes of surviving in life.

She was inconsolable while mourning his death, knowing that she would now face the burden of raising their three children on her own. At one point, Sophia considered abandoning them.

“I did not have any source of income; my husband was the sole breadwinner,” recalls Sophia.To survive, Sophia had to depend on her neighbours for food and other necessities.

“Life was not easy for me and the children. I am grateful to God that my good neighbours always came to our aid,” she says.

But in the midst of such despair, there was still some light at the end of the tunnel. Touched by Sophia’s plight, one of her friends advised her to join a women’s group as a way of putting her grief behind her.

The group, Umoja Ni Nguvu, loosely translated as Unity is Strength comprises  20 women.Among many other things, the group focuses on improving food security as well as income resilience for its members’ social and economic empowerment.

Thanks to the training the group received from CARE International in Tanzania, Sophia was in 2012 able to start up a small sesame seeds farm near her house.

Bumper harvest

The seeds she received from the organisation saw the determined woman harvest 50 kilograms of sesame from her one-acre farm.

Her first bumper harvest saw her rake in a great deal of money, which she used to buy school uniforms and books for her two children who were in primary school.

“My life has changed since the training, I’m now able to raise the children on my own,” says Sophia.

She used part of the money to buy more hand hoes, and this year, her harvest tripled to 150 kilograms, which she sold at Sh2,000 a kilo. This fetched her a total of Sh300,000, an amount she would not have been able to raise otherwise.

In the quiet village of Mbuo in rural Mtwara, Sophia is now considered a role model and inspiration for other women.

She is one of the beneficiaries of the WE-RISE (Women’s Empowerment: Improving Resilience, Income and Food Security) programme implemented by CARE in Mtwara and Lindi regions.

The programme aims at improving food security, income resilience for chronically food-insecure rural women in Tanzania through their social and economic empowerment.

Funded by the Australian government via the department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) under the Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACES), the funding is channelled through CARE Australia.

According to Maureen Kwilasa, CARE’s programme coordinator for WE-RISE, the programme focuses on Lindi and Mtwara as the two regions facing issues of poverty, food insecurity, variable climate and poor infrastructure.

She says that communities of Lindi and Mtwara have for a long time had negative perceptions on women, thus demeaning their status in the society.

“For instance, many husbands assume absolute control over their wives when they marry and decide whether or not their wives can join development groups…gender inequality is rooted within local communities and gender- based violence is common,” she says.

Transforming lives

According to her, such norms make it difficult for women to access land, education and markets. Kwilasa says that the most vulnerable women in the communities often have to sell their labour to others in order to earn enough money for food.

“This prevents them from being able to work on their own plots”.

According to Kwilasa, the five year project (July 2011-June 2016) will contribute to increased food security for 6,000 vulnerable households.

It will also focus on female-headed and child-headed households, as well as those affected by HIV/Aids in the southern most regions of Tanzania.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t an easy walk in the park for Sophia and her colleagues engaging in sesame seeds while the men in their communities held cashew nuts dearly to their hearts.

Angela Kalemwanga tells this writer how her husband turned down the idea of cultivating sesame seeds.

According to the 50-year-old lady, her husband would hear none of that and in fact had threatened to kick her out of the house if she insisted on cultivating the crop.

 “He didn’t support the idea of planting sesame seeds in my one and a half acre farm; he scolded me for not being creative.”

But such threats could not hold Angela back. Angela concentrated much on her efforts in sesame farming, while her husband engaged in cashew nut, a crop that has long been king in the area.

Two years ago, Angela enjoyed the fruits of her labour after harvesting two sacks of sesame from her farm. She sold the seeds at Sh2,300 a kilo which saw her cash in Sh300,000.

This year, Angela was all smiles as she managed to harvest three sacks where she sold a kilo at Sh2,200. After selling her harvest to traders from Dar es Salaam, she managed to pocket Sh700,000, much to the surprise of her husband.

“He did not believe it until he saw me counting the money one night,” says a proud Angela.

Angela spent the money in paying school fees for her two children who are studying at Chingutu Primary School in her village. She also used part of the money to buy a piglet, some iron sheets for a new house she is building and a bicycle for her husband.

Sesame like gold

“My husband is now happy with my achievements, he has promised to support me all the way,” she says excitedly.

Elsewhere in Chingutu ward, Mwajuma Omary is a proud mother thanks to sesame farmimg. For her, sesame seeds are nothing short of Gold.

“The crop is less stressing while working on the field, we are happy that it has changed our lives ever since we began cultivating it,” she says.

This year, Mwajuma managed to harvest 200 kilograms of sesame from her two-acre farm.

Delighted with the harvest, Mwajuma was able to look for potential buyers from Dar es Salaam and sold a kilo at Sh2,200.

She used the money to pay for her two daughters’ school fees and support her husband who is a cassava farmer.

“Sesame seeds mean a lot to us, the crop has changed our lives drastically.”

According to Kwilasa, the WE-RISE programme also assists farmers to adapt to climate change challenges and enhance their ability to cope with life shocks, like death as is in the case of Sophia.

The programme assists women get access to markets, engage in agricultural sustainability and improve household nutrition.

She says CARE has empowered the women to set up their own Village Community Banks (Vicoba), which has successfully helped them to save money from their harvests.

Through Vicoba, the women of rural Mtwara and Lindi have set up their own groups where they meet occasionally to share the benefits they have acquired from the crop that is disregarded by men in the southern part of the country. They also use these meetings to chart out plans on how to move forward.

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