USAID, Taha partnership bears fruit

Arusha. A robust partnership between the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the horticulture key driver –Taha has paid dividends in driving the industry growth by leaps and bounds.

The USAID financial and technical support has transformed Taha into a vibrant driving institution, leading to tremendous achievements in terms of rapid growth of the horticulture industry in Tanzania.

The partnership that spans for 17 years has successfully managed to nurture the nascent horticulture into a multi-million dollar industry, winning a significant recognition as a key industry of the economy by the Government. Latest official data speaks volumes on the growth of industry in the past 17 years, thanks largely to the USAID and Taha partnership.

Way back in 2006, there were less than 50 horticultural farmers in the country with insignificant production volumes for export markets.

17 years later, Taha under the USAID support had brought together over 6.5 million both large-scale and smallholders farmers into a single bloc fortified by a common set of business oriented interests.

With an annual growth rate of 11 per cent, the horticultural industry has turned into the growth driver of Tanzania’s stagnant agricultural sector, which grows by 4 percent.

Horticulture’s input to overall agrarian exports value has grown by 30 percent on average and is poised for leaps and bounds.

“Taha is proudly to report that the sub-sector earns the economy $779 million annually, up from around $64 million in 2006 before the USAID intervention, making horticulture a nascent undertaking of the economy to watch at the moment” Taha Chief executive officer, Ms Jacqueline Mkindi said.

She further said that Taha in collaboration with the Government and development partners intends to spur horticulture industry to earn the economy $2 billion per year and create decent employment to a critical mass of youth and women along the entire value chain come 2030.

Briefing the Mission Director for USAID Tanzania Ms Veeraya Kate Somvongsiri on her maiden official tour to Arusha horticultural farmers to get a glimpse of experience on the ground, Ms Mkindi said that through direct engaged projects and sub-granted funding big strides have been recorded in developing tailor-made good agricultural practices manuals.

The manuals have enabled Taha’s agronomists to impart the skills to a critical mass of smallholder farmers and farmer co-operatives nationwide.

The USAID support also played a critical part in strengthening TAHA’s advocacy role for producers, traders, exporters, processors, and horticultural products nationally and internationally.

“Owing to USAID backup, Taha has been able to holistically tackle myriad of challenges in terms of unfriendly policies for the entire horticulture supply chain” Ms Mkindi said.

The partnership has enabled Taha to meet its key focus areas in improving the business enabling environment, increasing access to markets, increasing productivity and competitiveness.

The USAID also empowered Taha to foster Public-Private Partnerships and horticulture investments, Market Information System, establish market support infrastructure, provide technical support services, promote nutrition and gender equity and engage youth and women in horticulture.

In her comment, the Mission Director for USAID Tanzania Ms Veeraya Kate Somvongsiri said she was pleased to see the massive impact brought about by the USAID and Taha partnership.

“We’ve worked together for a long time, USAID and Taha and I’m so pleased today I had an opportunity to see the impact of this work on the ground. It’s so amazing to see young women who are engaging in horticulture farming, so we bring youth into the industry, we unlock the potential of different types of products Tanzania has” Ms Kate said