Annual Report 2015
AgriProFocus Tanzania
1 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Colophon
Report compiled by:
Hilda Okoth Katarina Mungure Tom Ole Sikar
Wim Goris
Contact Information
AgriProFocus Tanzania AgriProFocus Netherlands Tom Ole Sikar Country network coordinator Postal address P.O.Box 13304 Arusha, Tanzania Visiting address AgriProFocus Tanzania is hosted by SNV-Arusha The office is behind La Bella Luna Hotel
T: 0688 020 510 E : [email protected] E: [email protected] E: [email protected] Website http://agriprofocus.com/tanzania
Wim Goris AgriProFocus network facilitator Visiting and Postal address AgriProFocus Jansbuitensingel 7 6811 AA Arnhem The Netherlands T: +31 (0)26 760 0396 M: +31 (0)6 1897 2352 E: [email protected] Website www.agriprofocus.com
2 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Table of Content
1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 5
2 SHARING KNOWLEDGE AND CO-CREATION .............................................................. 6
2.1 General overview ................................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Network development and coordination ................................................................................ 7
2.3 Business and partnership brokering ....................................................................................... 8 2.3.1 Agribusiness and finance fairs ............................................................................................ 10 2.3.2 Business to Business meetings ........................................................................................... 11
2.4 Innovation communities ....................................................................................................... 13 2.4.1 Youth/Farmer Entrepreneurship ........................................................................................ 14 2.4.2 Dairy (Grass to Glass) .......................................................................................................... 14
2.5 Platform for debate and learning ......................................................................................... 16
2.6 Appreciation and direct benefits .......................................................................................... 17
3 NETWORK UPTAKE OF RESULTS ............................................................................. 20
3.1 Systemic changes .................................................................................................................. 20 3.1.1 Improvements for members ............................................................................................... 20 3.1.2 Policy improvements .......................................................................................................... 20
3.2 Improved deals and partnerships ......................................................................................... 21 3.2.1 Number of deals and partnerships ..................................................................................... 21 3.2.2 Type of deals and partnerships .......................................................................................... 21 3.2.3 Size of deals and partnerships ............................................................................................ 22
4 MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................... 23
5 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................... 24
6 ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................ 25
3 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
List of Acronyms
ACT/TAP Agriculture Council of Tanzania/ Tanzania Agriculture Program
ANSAF Agricultural Non State Actors Forum
B2B Business to Business
COSTECH Commission for Science and Technology, Tanzania
EKN Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands
ESADA Eastern and Southern Africa Dairy Association
IBUTTI International Business and Trade Tanzania Initiative
LITA Livestock Training Agency
MECOBA Meru Community Bank
MVIWATA Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania – (Network of Farmers Groups In Tanzania)
NABC Netherlands – Africa Business Council
SAGCOT Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania
SIDO Small Industries Development Organisation
TAHA Tanzania Horticulture Association
TAMPRODA Tanzania Milk Producer Association
TCCIA Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture
TGFA Tanzania Graduate Farmers Association
WAWAPA Wakulima na Wafugaji wa Pangani – Pangani Cooperative
4 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Preface
We are writing this preface last, after spending a few days together in collecting and analysing event
reports, stories from our members, online platform, feedback given in smartphone surveys and digging
in our own memories. There is a lot to tell about AgriProFocus Tanzania in 2015, not in the least by all
the professionals that actively participated in our network. We included their comments and
testimonies in this report. And we look forward to support all of you again in 2016!
“Jambo kutoka Tanzania! Ripoti hii ya mwaka 2015 imesheheni habari njema ya mafanikio ya mtandao
wa AgriProFocus Tanzania. Ni matumaini yetu utaifurahia!”
The coordination team
Tom Ole Sikar Katarina Mungure Hilda Okoth Wim Goris
Network coordinator Business advisor Communication officer Network facilitator
5 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
1 Introduction
This annual report 2015 summarises the results of AgriProFocus Tanzania, the multi-actor network that
AgriProFocus created with its members in October 2012. AgriProFocus Tanzania is part of the global
AgriProFocus network.
As a network we believe that primary producers are
key to local economic growth, sustainable agri-food
systems, and food security for all. AgriProFocus
convenes stakeholders from the private and public
sector from science and civil society that are
committed to work with entrepreneurial farmers.
Knowledge sharing and co-creation of events help
our members to improve their support system for
farmer entrepreneurs. See figure 1.
This report provides an overview of what the network
has delivered in 2015 under its four service areas:
a. Network development and coordination.
b. Business and partnership brokering. c. Innovation communities. d. Platform for debate and learning.
Figure 1 AgriProFocus Theory of Change
Figure 2 AgriProFocus delivery areas for knowledge sharing and co-creation
The highlights of 2015 in Tanzania are: Network continuity with 7 repeat events;
expansion with 12 new events, all co-organised with members and partners.
Start of business activities in southern highlands/ growth corridor, in collaboration with SAGCOT.
Pilot use of smartphone survey app for mapping of the onion and garlic value chain, with TRIAS.
New innovation community on pulses was launched during network day, end of 2015.
The online platform for Tanzania now has 1260 professionals registered, a 89 % growth in 2015.
110 online members appreciate the services by
AgriProFocus Tanzania with a score of 3.05 on a
scale of 1 (poor) to 4 (good).
6 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
2 Sharing knowledge and co-creation
2.1 General overview
AgriProFocus Tanzania organized 19 main events in 2015, as shown in the table below. This is a big difference compared to 7 main events in 2014. A total of 12,014 participants attended our events. The single biggest event was the Meru Farmers Fair with 9,702 visitors, compared to 1,910 in 2014. Additionally, female participation especially in fairs increased from 34% (2014) to 66 %( 2015).
Date Event Name
(click title for report)
Location Participants (nr. of
females)
Co-Organizers
6th Feb Onion and Garlic VC
stakeholder meeting
Arusha 34 (10) TRIAS, TAHA
30th Mar Online Platform Training Arusha 36 (12) Kingo’ri CKC
31st Mar Poultry Exchange Visit Arusha 35 (12) Arusha Poulty Keepers Association
9th Apr Strategic Brainstorming Arusha 8 (1) 8 stakeholders
8-9 May Agri- Finance Fair Babati 600 (208) TCCIA Manyara, MVIWATA Manyara
23 Jun Dairy Learning Lab Arusha 16 (5) LITA Tengeru, PUM
1- 5 Jul B2B Meetings Dar 83 (42) TanTrade
22nd Aug Youth Road show
Conference
Dar es Salaam 139 (56) AMSHA Institute, TGFA, ANSAF, IBUTTI
4th Sep Business forum on Trade
Transparency
Dar es Salaam 35 (7) TechforTrade EA
18-19
Sep
Tanga Business Dairy
Platform
Tanga 1,050 (305) SNV, Tanga Dairy Platform
26 Sep Tomato Partnership Iringa 28 (12) SAGCOT Centre Ltd
22 Oct Horticulture Business
Innovation Competition
Dar Es Salaam 7 (0) SIDO, COSTECH, TAHA
19-21
Nov
Meru Farmers Fair Arusha 9,702 (5,832) FERT, TAHA, MVIWATA Arusha, MECOBA,
VECO East Africa, ACT/TAP
23-24
Nov
Dairy Learning Lab Tanga 23 (14) Tanga Fresh Ltd, SNV, Tanga Dairy Platform,
PUM
25-27
Nov
Tanzania Delegation to
Rwanda- Horti Event
Kigali,
Rwanda
18 (3) TAHA, SAGCOT
25–26
Nov
Dairy Learning Lab Pangani,
Tanga
36 (18) SNV, WAWAPA, Tanga Dairy Platform, PUM
27 Nov Dairy Learning Lab Tengeru,
Arusha
13 (9) SNV, LITA Tengeru, PUM
30 Nov –
1 Dec
Dairy Learning Lab Ngaramtoni,
Arusha
27 (11) SNV, ECHO East Africa, PUM
11 Dec Annual Network Day Arusha 107 (87) All partners and members
TOTAL 19 Events 12,014
( 6,644)
Total number of participants
(number of females among total)
Figure 3. Table with all events co-organised by AgriProFocus Tanzania in 2015.
The next figures show that farmer organizations continue to be the biggest stakeholder group in our
events. In absolute numbers their participation increased from 3,035 in 2014 to 7,301 farmers in 2015.
In relative numbers their share dropped from 80% (2014) to 61% (2015), because the share of other
stakeholder groups increased too. The graph shows the participation of different stakeholders per type
of event. Note that the three fairs attracted 11,352 visitors, all the other 16 events attracted the
remaining 662 participants.
7 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Figure 5 Participation by event type
2.2 Network development and coordination
Our plan for 2015 mentioned three key activities on network development.
Developing a long term strategy for network development in Tanzania, based on a stakeholder analysis.
Cooperating with NABC (and where opportunities arises with EKN-Tanzania) in linking Dutch and Tanzanian businesses and in promoting Dutch instruments for private sector development.
Retaining Tanzania members (644 professionals at Ning 31 Oct) during the migration to the new platform. Extrapolation of historic growth puts the target at 1000 per end 2015.
AgriProFocus Tanzania did a quick stakeholder analysis in the first quarter. In March, consultant Charles
Ogutu reported on potential partnerships with 8 stakeholders, ranging from local business to medium
NGOs. The coordination team and the key partners we consulted felt the need for a bigger leap forward.
In 2015, we started to develop our network in southern Tanzania. A first success is a joint activity on
tomatoes with SAGCOT and SNV. There is ample demand for our network services in agri-business and
agriculture in the southern growth corridor.
AgriProFocus was less successful in linking up with the Dutch. With NABC, we coordinated a proposal
for a dairy mission to Tanzania. Our preparatory work (consultant Yvonne Robben) was in vain, as
Tanzania dairy offers too little opportunities for Dutch business at this point in time. We thought of
organising a dairy mission to the ESADA fair, but decided to focus on horticulture. In November, we
were successful in organising a Tanzanian delegation of 18 people to the regional horticulture fair in
Kigali.
The new online platform http://agriprofocus.com/tanzania was promoted during 2015. Our new
colleague Hilda Okoth promoted the platform and organised online trainings. By the end of 2015 we
had 216 company profiles and 1260 individual profiles, way above the target.
Farmers’ Organisations
61%
Companies9%
Government1%
NGO3%
Knowledge0%
Other*26%
2015 Participants per stakeholder group
Figure 4 Overall participation in events
8 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Moreover, the page https://www.facebook.com/apftanzania gained 2200 likes during 2015.
Figure 6 Growth in online profiles
The graphs above shows that growth in number of personal profiles on our online platform Tanzania
page is stronger among males. Nevertheless, growth is even much stronger on Facebook. The
impression is that our Facebook page attracts a younger generation, but we have no statistics to
underpin this.
Figure 8 shows that organisational back-ground of individual profiles is relatively stable in 2014 (664 profiles) and 2015 (1264 profiles). Growth is in all types.
Our first lesson on network development is
that a constant effort is needed to engage
with people and their organisations, both
online and during live events. Facebook is
becoming increasingly important in our
communication.
Second, a flexible approach is needed for
business development. Our first priority was
on dairy, but in the end most business
interest was on horticulture. So our long
term strategy should include this flexible
demand steering in planning.
2.3 Business and partnership brokering
Our plan for 2015 mentioned 7 activities on business and partnership brokering.
Market intelligence on agricultural commodities and agribusinesses.
Provide SMS based services for offline members to upcoming events and relevant calls and opportunities for farmers.
Actively manage the online market place for Q&A on farmer entrepreneurship related issues.
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
2015 - No data
2015 - Male
2015 - Female
2014 - No data
2014 - Male
2014 - Female
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2014 2015
2015 Other
2015 Govrnmnt
2015 Network
2015 Knowledge
2015 Company
2015 Farmer Org
2015 NGO
Figure 7 Screenshot Facebook Feb'16
Figure 8 online profiles by professional background
9 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Dissemination of calls and partnership building for resource mobilisation.
Linking farmers and their organisations to financial institutions to access finance by organising finance fairs.
Matchmaking of businesses with TCCIA and Dutch agribusinesses.
Identify business and investment opportunities for creating linkages with farmers in SAGCOT.
On market intelligence on agriculture commodities and agribusiness, this service is offered through
quick-scans, directory and overview of calls;
AgriProFocus supported SNV and MatchMaker Associates in a dairy subsector quick scan conducted in the highlands of Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Tanga regions. The aim was to update relevant data and information in the 3 regions to support the proposal development on dairy. Unfortunately, the potential donor did not select the proposal to improve dairy through youth and women enterprises development.
Early 2015, AgriProFocus finalised and organised a dissemination workshop for a joint study with TRIAS, TAHA and MVIWATA on the Onion and Garlic sectors. The field work used AKVO flow mobile survey to interview 289 farmers, 21 traders and 12 agro-dealers. The findings were discussed and validated in the stakeholders workshop held in February. Using the findings of the study MVIWATA organised a planning meeting in May with their farmers to prepare interventions to be carried out.
AgriProFocus Tanzania maintains an updated directory on who is who in Tanzanian agribusiness. The directory at http://agriprofocus.com/tanzania shows 216 companies and organisations with a search option on subsector, on chain segment, or on the services offered.
A third service is that we provide regular overviews of relevant calls and opportunities, information on promising sub-sectors, investors, investments and donors, for farmer entrepreneurship programmes and calls ,both at the national and international level. In 2015, we shared 23 such calls.
AgriProFocus Tanzania is using bulk SMS services (text messages) to mobilise farmers who do not have
internet access for agribusiness fairs. AgriProFocus coordinates the SMS invitations with TAHA, FERT,
Mwivata and TAMPRODA who regularly send Swahili text messages to their members. Usually, the
coordination team gets a surge of phone calls of farmers wanting to register after a bulk SMS. Here is
an example of one of the text messages sent during the Manyara agri-finance fair.
Text message in Swahili, informing about
the farmers fair in Manyara:
AgriProFocus wanakualika kwenye
Maonesho ya Kuunganisha Kilimo-biashara
na fursa za mitaji, Tarehe 8 na 9 Mei, 2015,
Viwanja vya Kwaraa Babati, Kuanzia Saa 3
asubuhi hadi 11 jioni. Njoo ukutane na
EFTA Ltd, TFA, KAI Agro na wengine wengi.
Kwa maelezo piga 0688 020 510.
Regarding our Q&A service, we serviced 19 requests by phone, email and face-to-face contact. The
overview below of Q&A (questions and answers) shows that we mostly service business with our
brokering support. It is noted that knowledge and government institutes are not yet linked to this
service. Also, the requests are for business contacts, we did not register any request for knowledge
contacts.
10 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Figure 10 Q&A overview Examples of these requests are:
From Zirconium PVT Ltd in India; sourcing raw cashew nut, green-mung beans and pigeon peas from Tanzania. The request was shared online and directly to potential suppliers.
Impression Tanzania Ltd; looking for a bulk peanut butter supplier. The request was shared online and directly to a potential supplier.
Agriterra Tanzania; looking for investor contacts in the tea sector, horticulture and organic farming. Potential contacts were shared respectively.
A private farmer; looking for extension services and a hired tractor. Potential contacts were sought and shared respectively.
The Q&A service is responding to requests. We actively promote business linkages during the 6 Business
to Business (B2B) meetings and 3 agri-business fairs.
2.3.1 Agribusiness and finance fairs
The Manyara Agri-finance fair attracted 600 visitors in 2 days. The fair was held in rural Manyara, 160
km from Arusha. The feedback collected from 232 visitors was positive: 71 % were farmers, 23%
females. Most came prepared to get information and learned about finance. Only a few respondents
answered specific questions on access to finance. All 36 exhibitors were interviewed, most were
satisfied for meeting potential clients. 4 companies reported business deals: 5-10 insurance products;
5-10 bank accounts; 10-50 loan products; 1-5 equity deals. The total value was estimated by exhibitors
at USD 1300. Alongside the exhibitions, a business forum and 4 financial literacy seminars were
organised by Moshi Cooperative University, TRIAS, and TAHA. Generally, visitors reported to have
gained knowledge from the fair about good agricultural practices, entrepreneurship and agri-finance.
The Tanga Dairy Business platform was a two days repeat fair attended by 1050 adult visitors and 27
exhibitors, held in Tanga town at the Tangamano grounds. The fair also featured a milk drinking
competition for school children in support of the school milk drinking program implemented by Tanga
Fresh limited and Amy diaries Ltd. There were also seminars on dairy farming as a business offered
during the fair. 14 companies out of the 27 participating companies. Most of the interviewed exhibitors
(about 71%) reported that the event had lived up to their (positive) expectations. Two of the
participating companies closed several business deals at the fair, one of the companies reported to
have closed between 1-5 business deals whose worth is approximately between 500 to 1000 USD,
whereas the other one reported to have closed 5 to 10 business deals. The deals were about animal
feeds, veterinary products, agro-chemicals and equipment/tools. Moreover, visitors at the fair reported
to have gained knowledge about milk marketing, good practices in animal husbandry, dairy farming as
a business, animal health and milk handling.
Request from.. Business contacts
Contacts at national
level
Contacts at international
level
Company 13 3 10
NGO 4 4 0
Government 0 0 0
Knowledge 0 0 0
Farmer Org 2 2 0
Total 19 9 10
11 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
The Meru Farmers fair was a three days fair, organised at Kikatiti farmers market, about 35km from
Arusha town attracted an audience of 9,720 visitors and 38 exhibitors. 27 companies were interviewed
during this event most of whom (48%) reported to have welcomed between 100 to 500 visitors at their
booth, also 93% of the companies reported that the visitors they had received were potential clients
for business. In terms of business deals, the analysis shows that 1 company closed about 5-10 deals on
financial services i.e. technical assistance worth below USD 100. 5 agro-input companies reported 1-5,
5-10 and 100-500 agro-input business deals about seedlings and equipment/tools and 2 companies
reported 1-5 and 100-500 agricultural produce business deals about cereals, oilseeds, pulses and
vegetables. Moreover, 3 seminars were offered by Moshi Cooperative University. The topics were
farming as a business; access to financial services; access to inputs through aggregation of farmers; and
gender and youth in agriculture. Further, the results of the interviews from visitors show that the fair
also helped them to gain knowledge on: savings and lending, seed identification and multiplication,
collective marketing, agribusiness management, business record keeping, modern farming practices as
well as simple and affordable crop storage technologies.
2.3.2 Business to Business meetings
In Dar es Salaam, we organised B2B meetings around the Dar es Salaam International Trade fair
(Maonesho ya Saba-Saba). The sector meetings brought together 98 participants, as well as 11
companies (buyers) of agricultural produce. The sectors featured were cashew nuts, sesame, poultry,
honey, fruits and vegetables). Generally, 11 respondents representing the buying companies were
interviewed and 87% of these reported to have met with enough visitors (producers) to live up to their
expectations. 2 companies reported between 1-5 and 5-10 closed business deals to supply inputs to
attending farmers, the deals were about seedlings and packaging materials, worth 5,000 to 10,000 USD
respectively. Also, 2 companies reported 5-10 and 10-50 business deals on livestock and vegetables.
One of the deals worth is between 50,000 to 100,000 USD and the second one is between 100,000 to
500,000 USD.
Another 4 of the farmer representatives sold produce to other traders/buyers processors that attended
the Saba-Saba trade fair. The crops are mainly cash crops and oil seeds one of the respondents had
between 1-5 deals to sell and the three other respondents had between 5-10 deals to sell agricultural
produced, two of the deals are worth of between 100-500 USD, the remaining 2 deals are worth
between 1,000-5,000 USD and 5,000-10,000 USD accordingly.
Also one deal was also landed to offer agricultural/ business support services, mainly, agronomic
services and marketing services, the value of the deals is between 5,000 and 10,000 USD.
‘’Through the Meru Farmers’ Fair I was able to meet about 220
farmers from Kikatiti, Moshi and Morogoro. Before attending
this fair in Kikatiti, SEVIA did not offer its services in the area,
however, through the fair, SEVIA was able to identify these
farmers, whereas, we will offer extension services as well as
training through demo plots. Additionally, I have linked horti-
cultural farmers from Moshi and Morogoro with the respective
agricultural officers in those regions.’’
Iddi Mohammed Haridi – Agriculture Officer, SEVIA
(Seeds of Expertise For the Vegetable Industry in Africa)
12 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Ester Mtwalizya is a trader in horticulture
who attended the horticulture sector
business to business meeting in July 2015.
Through this meeting, she was able to link
up with horticultural producers who she
later recruited and trained as outgrowers for
the Ideal health care company. Currently the
farmers are growing orange fleshed
potatoes and moringa on about 43 acres of
land. Moreover, she linked up with about 3
buyers for her products and was able to
close a deal worth about 2 Million TZS (€
1000) during the meeting.
Trade transparency business forum
This event we co-organised in response to a request from was co-organised with TechforTrade from
Nairobi (a firm recommended by AgriProFocus Kenya). The forum aimed to explore ways to build trust
in trade relationships between small scale farmers and businesses. Trust can be enhanced through
transparency; and transparent trade relations can attract affordable and sustainable working capital
finance. TechforTrade offers a digital platform that in future will link in a transparent way lenders with
finance and lending institutions in Tanzania and abroad.
The forum attracted an audience of 35 participants with a powerful representation of the private
sector. After the forum, TechforTrade already reported two potential deals. Considering the business
interest, we plan to co-organise 2 more business forums in 2016 with lessons drawn from 2015. Below
is an example of a follow-up made in 2016 by one of the participating trading companies.
Hello, I am writing to inquire information on how to join/ benefit from this Trading Innovation platform. I am an entrepreneur who source and procure direct from Farmers and add value by cleaning, sorting, packing and export to different markets. I will appreciate getting detailed info on criteria I need to have to qualify for same.
Thanking you and awaiting your response. Samson, BUYAS Global Agencies
Tomato partnership event with SAGCOT
This was also a new event for 2015, co-organised with the SAGCOT Centre Ltd (SCL), the agency that is
to develop the southern agricultural growth corridor. For AgriProFocus it was the very first event we
co-organised in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The idea is to put in place appropriate support
around the business supporting environment e.g. finance and input for farmers so that they may
efficiently supply the required quantity and quality tomatoes to the off-taker. The initiative is still at its
initial stages of implementation and therefore, the results of this initiative are still at an output stage.
However, from the interviews conducted at the tomato meeting, 100% of the respondents indicated
that the meeting was relevant and useful for their organisation and also appreciated the partnership
meeting as a means of understanding about the work and services offered by the organisers. As a
13 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
follow-up, SAGCOT also requested us to co-organise a dairy learning journey, in which we coordinated
with the dairy company ASAS in Iringa.
Tanzania delegation to horticultural event in Rwanda
In collaboration with SAGCOT Centre Ltd, Tanzania Horticulture Association (TAHA) and TAHA Fresh,
we organised a Business Innovation Competition for the horticulture sector. The two best entries were
awarded travel and stay at the Regional Horticulture event in Kigali, in November 2015 on promoting
innovation and Trade in Horticulture. These were East Arica Fruits Company Ltd and Help Other People
Emerge (HOPE) organization. Although, the innovators from Tanzania did not win the competition, our
country was well represented. Other organisations joined the delegation for exhibition and conference
sessions of the event were, MVIWATA, World Vision, AVRDC World Vegetable Centre and TAHA.
’It has been a wonderful networking and business experience in Kigali horti event. East Africa Fruits Co Ltd attended as exhibitor and also we competed in the Business Innovation Competition. Our current focus on post-harvest waste received a number of traction and business synergies that can help us scale our current operations. We thank AgriProFocus for counting on us and we hope to participate in other resourceful events.’’
Elia Timotheo, East African Fruits Farm
Lessons learned
Our report on partnership brokering is not complete. We did help more members and partners by
pointing out opportunities for funding, we advise on first proposals, possible partners and/or experts.
This part of our work benefits from privacy and trust in the initial stage. We do encourage members to
share information with the network in a later stage.
Maintaining a flexible approach where members can undertake and propose activities that reflect
real/existing demands in the network e.g. we had planned to organise finance fairs in the Southern
highlands, however, after careful evaluation it seemed more relevant to co-facilitate a more focused
approach for better results in supporting farmers entrepreneurs in the Southern highlands i.e. the
tomato partnership initiative.
From the AKVO surveys, suggestions for improvement indicate that the network should also make an
extra effort on follow-up of the up-take of initiatives and opportunities presented at the business
brokering events. This follow-up is not only emphasized on results/outcomes but also on agricultural
professionals attending the events to further link-up with potential clients after events.
2.4 Innovation communities
Our plan for 2015 mentioned the following innovation communities:
Access to Finance
Access to Markets
Access to Inputs
Farmers and Youth Entrepreneurship
Grass to Glass dairy
14 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
In 2015, we reflected on their functioning, induced by the AgriProFocus manual to support innovation
communities. Our analysis is that some communities actually are organising committees of fairs on
finance, markets or inputs. These topics are important yet reported under chapter 2.3 business
brokering. Find below an update for the remaining innovation communities on youth and dairy.
2.4.1 Youth/Farmer Entrepreneurship
Plans in 2015 were:
Organise a youth forum on agri-business to interest youth in agri-business.
Organise a youth and financial institutions dialogue.
Share knowledge on youth initiatives and knowledge products for youth among organisations.
The working group kicked-off with a planning meeting in May, 2015. Active members include: AMSHA,
ANSAF IBUTTI, GFA, SNV-OYE. Together, it was decided to have a youth roadshow in August. This took
place on August 22 in Dar Es Salaam. 'Kilimo ndio mpango mzima' (Agribusiness is the real deal) was
the motto of the forum. The forum hosted over 130 representatives from youth groups and
representatives from public and private institutions. The turn up of these participants on a Saturday,
showed the eagerness for youths to learn more about agribusiness. Read more here and in the box.
Omary Iddi was one of the speakers during youth roadshow. He
encouraged youths by sharing the story how he started his business
with a capital of 7,000 Tanzania Shillings. Omary now owns a shop and
a farm where he sells and multiplies cassava seedlings. His harvest is 16
tonnes of cassava seedlings per acre. He also offers training on how to
grow cassava and how to control pests and diseases.
Key messages from the forum: skills are prerequisite for young entrepreneurs; more collaboration
among organisations working on youth issues is needed; personal commitment, passion and drive are
key ingredients for success in agribusiness.
The financial dialogue of youth with financial institutions did not happen as a separate event. However
we invited youth to the finance fair. Unfortunately, the survey data do not specify details for youth. The
survey uses age groups (below 25, 25-50, older than 50) while youth farmers in Tanzania are below 35
years.
Sharing of resources on youth among organisations. On this topic the online page
http://agriprofocus.com/youth was created. It contains 5 international publications and videos from
Indonesia and Mali. So far, we did not collect specific documents/videos on youth in Tanzania. Youth
are fond of the AgriProFocus Facebook page.
2.4.2 Dairy (Grass to Glass)
Plans in 2015 were:
Co-organise the annual Dairy Business Platform
15 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
Share resources for a consultancy study on feed production and commercialization and market
opportunities in Tanzania.
New: dairy learning labs
The dairy working group kicked off with a planning meeting in May. Active members include SNV, ECHO,
Tengeru LITA, TangaFresh, Tanga Dairy Platform, and TAMPRODA. The members agreed to repeat the
Tanga dairy business platform. The idea for a consultancy study on dairy feed production met low
interest. Members referred to existing studies so the study was not pursued. Members did agree to
test the dairy learning lab approach in Tanzania.
In the dairy learning labs, cow health and reproduction was the topic of the first lab. After testing the
approach in Uganda and Zambia, a two-day dairy learning lab was held in June, co-organised with LITA
Tengeru and PUM. This lab was positively appreciated, so in November, a series of dairy learning labs
and visits were co-organised with our dairy partners around Tanga and again in Tengeru. Ideas for a
third topic involve record keeping.
The lesson on the dairy learning lab is that the approach is a successful combination of practical
knowledge and theoretical background. The tendency is that it attracts ever more farmers on the
practical dimension. This is a meaningful indicator of success. Our next step should be to discuss with
our members and partners how we can involve national experts respond to this growing demand for
training in dairy skills and knowhow. At the same time, the poultry sector has been asking AgriProFocus
to develop a similar approach.
The other priority for this group is the second dairy business platform in Tanga. It was held on
September 18 and 19 and counted 23 exhibitors and 1050 visitors. The visitors included students from
30 schools, target of a school milk programme. Among the exhibitors businesses and service providers
for inputs, Artificial Insemination, finance, biogas and solar, advisory services, research institutions, milk
processors, successful cooperatives and dairy farmers. This year, Tanga City council joined as an
exhibitor, while the Tanga Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS) officiated the forum, indicating
government support for the event. Read more here.
Dairy business Platform quotes:
A dairy farmer from Mashewe: “I learned new techniques on how to handle an in-calf cow. I didn’t know this. This will save me some bills from the vet doctor.”
An aspiring dairy farmer from Dar: “I saw an advert and decided to come. I am happy, I gathered quite enough knowledge on where to start and also gathered contacts of who to call in for help when I start my dairy farm”.
Our lesson on the Tanga Dairy Business platform is the need of even more collaboration among the
stakeholders in the dairy sector in Tanga Region, to ensure many more dairy farmers attend the events
thus increasing the intended impact.
16 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
2.5 Platform for debate and learning
Our annual plan for 2015 mentioned the following activities
Policy dialogue through topical discussions on issues such as the future of youth in agriculture and farmer access to finance.
Partnering with key media outlets e.g. ITV to hold and stimulate discussions on agri-businesses.
Promoting online exchange via our platform by providing a calendar of events, sharing news and case studies and linking to members’ websites.
The policy dialogue in youth and finance was part of the business or learning events on these topics.
The discussion was interesting but no specific policy message emerged. In section 2.3 we reported on
the trade transparency business forum.
This was different during the network day, where we had a special session on post-harvest losses. The
presentations in this session estimate that in Tanzania, postharvest losses is almost 31% of agriculture
outputs in a typical value chain. The crop losses significantly affect negatively the farmers’ income and
their livelihoods. In December during the network day a debate on postharvest losses was organised.
Two case studies from members on postharvest losses were shared and a panel of 5 persons initiated
the shared their knowledge on key issues on post-harvest losses. Nearly 100 members joined and
participated in the dialogue which also received media coverage from the national TV stations. Two key
issues emerging from the debate: 1) there is a lack of a friendly policy on the postharvest phase and 2)
also the availability of correct data and information in the country on these losses. The government
officials attending the debate agreed to take up the two issues and include them as part of the policy
development agenda.
In April 2015, the Tanzanian parliamentary standing committee on agriculture, livestock and water
visited the Netherlands. The delegation was led by Hon. prof. Msolla and it followed up on the 2014
visit of Dutch parliamentary delegation to Tanzania. As part of the delegation programme, on
Wednesday 22 April, AgriProFocus Netherlands and Agriterra co-organised a Masterclass on
Cooperatives for this delegation. After presentations on AgriProFocus and Agriterra, the Dutch
experience in agricultural cooperativism was presented by mr. Jos van Campen (former chairman NCR
- National Cooperative Council & former Chairman Cosun - sugarbeet farmer coop and by Theo
Koekkoek (chairman Agrifirm, a cooperative firm in animal feed and concentrates). The presentations
led to an animated debate on the history and perspectives of the cooperative movement in both
countries.
Online platform
In 2015, the online activities show an interesting increase for Tanzania. The graph below shows the
number of individual profiles, the news items, post on the marketplace and events in the Tanzania
calendar.
The number news items
increased from 152 to 470 in
2015 slightly higher than the
average 459 news items in all
country networks. Overall
online activities have increased
Type of Online Activity 2013 2014 2015
News Items 163 152 470
Market Place 32 47 92
Events Announcements 28 40 69
Figure 11 overall online activities online platform regarding Tanzania
17 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
compared to previous years as shown in the table below.
Participation per 100 professionals on the online activities slightly increased in news items (from 22.9
to 37.3) and marketplace (from 7.1 to 7.3) but reduced in event announcements (from 6.0 to 5.5).
The new online platform attracted quite a number of visitors. A total of 8,417 visitors from Tanzania
visited the AgriProFocus Online platform, while 4,128 visited AgriProFocus Tanzania homepage (as
shown in the last paragraph above). AgriProFocus Tanzania Facebook page having 2,200 likes (by end
of 2015) has highly contributed to the many visits on the online platform.
2.6 Appreciation and direct benefits
The appreciation of the services in our network is measured in various ways. During most of the bigger
events we interview participants on the spot by way of smartphone surveys. We have different sets of
questions for visitors and exhibitors in our fairs. Second, at the end of every year a general survey is
sent out to the AgriProFocus network. This year we collected 110 responses from Tanzania, 8,7 % of
the online members. This is similar to the 104 responses at the end of 2014, so we feel confident to
compare them.
The general appreciation is positive, with scores similar to the previous year.
General appreciation of the AgriProFocus network
Answer Options from 1(=poor) to 4 (=good) AgriProFocus Tanzania …
Score 2015
Score 2014
is increasingly relevant for my work 3.34 3.46
creates visible synergies among the actors 3.35 3.38
is a sustainable approach for the agricultural sector 3.36 3.55
Figure 14 General appreciation of the AgriProFocus network
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
News items posted per 100 professionals
2014 2015
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
2015 Sessions (visitors)
Sessions coming from country
Sessions on country homepage
Figure 12 News items posted per 100
professionals
Figure 12 Visitors (sessions) on online platform
18 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
The average score for services is 3.06 in Tanzania. This is slightly lower than the score in 2014. Especially
the Q&A service scored lower, while most other services got similar scores.
Appreciation of our services
Answer Options from 1 (poor) to 4 (good)
Score
2015
Score
2014
Network day / Business 2 Business meeting 3.25 3.33
Finance Fair or Agri-business marketplace 3.06 3.05
Knowledge event / Expert meeting / Policy debate 3.09 3.14
Capacity building / training / coaching 3.08 3.20
Innovation community / Thematic group 3.08 2.97
Online platform information exchange 3.37 3.24
Direct services by the coordination team (Q&A) 2.78 3.20
Average score 3.06 3.15
Figure 15 Appreciation of services AgriProFocus Tanzania
The graph below shows the appreciation of direct benefits of joining our activities. Interestingly, all
scores are a half point higher than in 2014. It might be a result of more effective communication,
because the content of our work did not alter that much.
Rating of direct benefits by participating in AgriProFocus activities
Answer Options from 1 (= poor) to 4 (= good)
Rating
2015
Rating
2014
Getting updated with vital new information 3.61 3.10
Becoming more knowledgeable 3.51 3.03
Finding potential business partners 3.16 2.32
Having more exposure for our work / business 3.24 2.79
Voicing my / our opinion 3.00 2.53
Working / learning with others around a shared goal 3.32 2.76
Average 3.31 2.76
Figure 16 Rating of direct by participating in AgriProFocus Tanzania activities
The yearly appreciation survey has many more details not presented here. It is a source of insights,
lessons, knowledge, contacts, business opportunities to be further analysed in 2016. The final
comments in this survey give a wealth of information for further improving network relevance to its
members.
We like to end this paragraph with some of the 52 comments received in the appreciation survey (we
left out all the funding requests and repetitions).
Go beyond events and platform, be an honest broker and neutral relationship manager
I appreciate the best works that AgriProFocus coordination Team is doing. A big applause. I like to see expansion in the Lake Regions on banana, coffees, sunflower, cassava and potato.
How can AgriProFocus try to reach, the bottom farmers who are not connected to the internet in the rural areas?
AgriProFocus network services are relevant , need to be sustainably improved to serve large scope of beneficiaries
19 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
I would like to have feedback from different forums and meetings, as AgriProFocus staff have been promising to send to us after each meeting.
You should have some ambassador in Universities to expand the awareness of AgriProFocus for example in University of Dar es Salaam of Tanzania.
Improve language to have Multilanguage options
Access to Finance is challenge to most Members. Have you ever checked any Financial lender who is a current member of AgriProFocus if they have ever offered for another member within a network? I think AgriProFocus has to come in and bridge the gap.
Emphasis should be directed in face to face training for participants capacity building
AgriProFocus is doing very good work. I suggest more training especially for starting farmers
20 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
3 Network uptake of results 3.1 Systemic changes
3.1.1 Improvements for members
According to our theory of change (see introduction) our members gain from joining the network in
terms of improving their support system to farmers and their organisations. This is why 2 questions in
our survey ask about improvements in the internal organisation of members and in their services to
farmers.
Figure 17 Improvements in internal organisation, services and products after attending AgriProFocus
Tanzania activities
The response from 96 professionals indicates as top 3 improved marketing and business plans and a
change of strategy. The products and services mainly improved in quality. The response on those issues
is similar to what we found in 2014. The difference is that in 2014, improved staff skills, improved
quantity of products/ services and new products/services scored better.
‘’Through the Manyara Agri-finance fair, I was able to network with businesses offering agricultural products and services to smallholder farmers. As a result , we secured two consultancy
contracts to offer training to 2 farmer cooperatives on organizational, cost accounting and cooperative management
to more than 200 farmers.’’
Damian Sambuo, Lecturer at the Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU)
3.1.2 Policy improvements
In 2015, there were 2 moments of agenda-setting for potential policy improvements.
The trade transparency business forum in September, co-organised this with TechforTrade, aspires to
change the relationship between small-scale farmers, traders and financial service providers. Trust is
built by a transparent trading platform which may contribute to lower transaction costs. AgriProFocus
is requested to co-organise more business forums on trade transparency.
21 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
The postharvest losses debate and learning held on network day in December also has the potential to
influence the government policy making process and hence leading into postharvest policy
development. The debate increased learning on issues of the lack of a friendly postharvest policy and
availability of correct data/information on postharvest losses. These issues were hotly debated and
viewed to be of critical importance if the problem regarding postharvest losses is to be addressed by
farmers. The government agreed to bring it up in its agenda on postharvest losses in cooperation with
relevant stakeholders.
In the appreciation survey, 91 persons responded on the issue of policy improvements.
The graph indicates as top 3
‘more attention to
sustainability’ and ‘more
resources available for
agricultural activities’ and
‘improved bargaining
position of producer
organisations’.
Figure 18 Improvements in policy after attending AgriProFocus Tanzania activities
3.2 Improved deals and partnerships 3.2.1 Number of deals and partnerships
The result survey indicates 35 responses that affirm a deal or partnership, this is higher than the 27
deals mentioned in the 2014 survey. And it is also in the range of the estimated 47 deals reported during
the B2B meetings (see section 2.3).
It is impossible to conclude what members think of our role in deal making. On the role of AgriProFocus
we got only 10 responses: 5 times we are the info provider, other roles got one vote each. Follow-up
questions on this topic got 3 responses or less. Strangely, a specific question on whether AgriProFocus
helped to improve the negotiation position got 39 responses, of which 28 positive.
3.2.2 Type of deals and partnerships
The survey collected 36 responses on type
of deal. The graph indicates in % that NGO
and farmer organisations reported 10
deals each. It is not possible to assess deals
between farms and firms, farms and banks
and partnerships.
The follow-up questions on this topic got
max 3 responses, so again it is not possible
to do significant statements.
Figure 19 Type of deals/partnerships per stakeholder group
22 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
3.2.3 Size of deals and partnerships
Information on size of deals and partnerships has been collected as follows: We interviewed visitors on
our business events with smartphone surveys. In most events we got no responses on money questions.
We also interviewed the exhibitors during these events. From them we got some responses, for
example the B2B meetings in Dar es Salaam are reported to have yielded deals worth € 292,500.
Last, we held the end of year survey with 110 online members. On this aspect of deals we got 25
responses, indicating the following response per type of deal. In the survey, the questions on size use
ranges (0-100; 100-500; etc.). The minimal amount is a correction for the case that two respondents
talk about the same deal.
code type of deal response count min amount max amount
Q26 inputs 3 € 5.400,00 € 10.800,00
Q32 trade 5 € 19.425,00 € 38.850,00
Q38 banks 3 € 31.500,00 € 63.000,00
Q43 BDS 4 € 16.650,00 € 33.300,00
Q48 knowledge 1 € 150,00 € 300,00
Q53 NGO 9 € 73.600,00 € 147.200,00
Q58 partnership 0 € - € -
sum 25 € 146.725,00 € 293.450,00
Figure 20 Value of deals reported
The values in the tables above should be read with care. In the same survey a general question about
all deals got one response indicating a deal between € 500k and € 1M. We checked this claim but think
it should not be attributed to AgriProFocus.
Mama Moshi operates Twiga Feeds, a poultry out grower business near Dar es Salaam. As demand for poultry is growing, she is looking to work with more poultry farmers. So, she attended the poultry sector business to business meeting in July 2015.
In this meeting she linked up with an AgriProFocus partner who introduced her to a youth group. Mama Moshi and the youth group are currently in negotiations how to work together. Her business offer is to support the group with capital, insurance and advisory services and in the end she offers a reliable market for their poultry.
AgriProFocus, PUM and SNV-OYE are developing a poultry learning lab approach to improve the poultry skills among these youth.
23 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
4 Management
A new agreement to continue hosting the network in SNV was signed between APF and SNV Tanzania
in Jan 2015. In this agreement SNV is hosting APF Tanzania in the SNV office in Arusha. The APF office
in Tanzania is coordinated by a coordination team in Tanzania and supported by APF HQ in Arnhem
through the network facilitator. Due to expanding network activities in Tanzania the coordination team
was strengthened by the recruitment of a new staff. Hildagard Okoth, was recruited and started
working as a new Network Assistant from July 2015. The coordination team is currently composed of 4
staff in which 3 are based in Tanzania and one is based in Holland. The staff based in Tanzania are the
country coordinator (Tom Ole Sikar), business and partnerships advisor (Katarina Mungure), and the
network assistant (Hildagard Okoth). The staff based in APF HQ in Holland is the network facilitator
(Wim Goris).
The cooperation with the host organisation SNV Tanzania, was very good and mutually supportive. The
work environment and facilities in the host office is good and relations between APF and SNV projects
was created. Opportunities to profile the network activities and work with SNV projects was carried out
during the year. SNV projects which were involved include the dairy value chain and the opportunity
for youth employment (OYE) project. Relations with other members and especially TAHA (in access to
finance), FERT (in farmers fair), TRIAS (finance), TANTRADE (B2B events), Tanga Fresh (dairy platform)
can be described as very active and positive.
Efforts to establish an advisory board to improve governance of the country network activities were
started during the members’ network day in December 2015. Five members were elected to form the
advisory board which will provide advice to the country network on the planning and implementation
of interventions. The advisory board composing of 4 men and one woman is expected to hold its first
meeting in early 2016. The members elected and their categories are; Juma Ngomuo (youth), Martin
Pius (farmers organisations), Sia Charles (private sector), Damian Sambuo (knowledge institutions),
Laban Boaz (development organisations).
The cooperation with EKN was not active during the year although EKN is always positive about the
network activities in Tanzania. The cooperation with EKN was also not possible after the cancellation of
the NABC mission in dairy to Tanzania.
The coordination team also spent substantial time to plan and implement required interventions to
support members from Tanzania to participate in the horticulture regional event in Rwanda. The
proposal for the event in Rwanda emerged during the year, but was successful nevertheless.
24 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
5 Financial management
Tanzania In €
Realised Budgeted
Revenues
Dutch members 30,210 52,500
Service delivery programmes - -
Local stakeholder / Other partners 63,694 126,000
DGIS matching fund 95,798 118,013
Public partners 972 -
Other income - -
Total Revenu 190,674
Costs
Coordination 33,401 36,335
Network development 18,369 24,612
Business & partnership brokering 73,356 180,279
Innovation communities 97,010 123,779
Platform for debate & Learning 13,223 12,112
Total Cost 235,359
Result -44.686
Opening balance 01-01-2015 95.783
End balance 31-12-2015 51.097
The balance reduced considerably during 2015, but is still a healthy perspective for 2016. Especially the
income registered as in kind contributions to our events was lower than expected. In response, we also
reduced the expenditure associated with these events where possible.
The aim for 2016 is to balance income and expenditure.
25 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
6 Analysis and conclusions
Have we been doing the right things?
Have we organized ourselves well?
Did we get the results we have aimed for?
These are our key questions for self-analysis. First, we have asked our online members what they think
about this. See their rating on 4 questions here (1=poor, 4=good).
65. Appreciation of support by AgriProFocus
Answer Options Rating Average Response Count
At the level of the AgriProFocus Country Network 2,82 82
At the level of the AgriProFocus Arnhem support office 2,44 55
Answered question 82
Skipped question 28
66. Appreciation of contributions by other members in the network
Answer Options Rating Average Response Count
Sharing information / experiences / knowledge 3,06 81
Openness to collaborate with others 3,01 71
Providing resources / expertise 2,73 70
Answered question 82
Skipped question 28
67. Appreciation of own professional contribution to the network
Answer Options Rating Average Response Count
Sharing information / experiences / knowledge 2,84 82
Openness to collaborate with others 2,92 73
Providing resources / expertise 2,60 73
Answered question 82
Skipped question 28
68. General appreciation of the AgriProFocus network
Answer Options Rating Average Response Count
Is increasingly relevant for my work 3,34 80
Creates visible synergies among the actors 3,35 75
Is a sustainable approach for the agricultural sector 3,36 74
Answered question 82
Skipped question 28
Figure 21 General appreciation of AgriProFocus Tanzania activities and services
In our own analysis, yes, we are working in the right sectors and topics. We see this in the response and
appreciation of our services and events. However, the tragic point of a network approach is that success
leads inevitably to more demand. Satisfied visitors, exhibitors and members ask for more learning
events, business advice and all the other activities mentioned in this report. So it was a right decision
to hire additional staff for managing the only platform. In the long run, the other right answer for a
26 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
network is involving co-organisers, local expertise. For example, we should not repeat dairy learning
labs endlessly, but look for ways to inspire members with this approach.
Earlier in the report, the necessity of flexibility in the organisation and planning of a network and its
coordination was stressed. A successful network has strong informal ties. The issue of trust in business
as addressed by TechforTrade is essential for the relations in our own network too.
The introduction of a competition element (essays for the Nairobi livestock event; pitches for the
horticulture event in Kigali) in our network is a coin with two sides. It does create a vibrant atmosphere
in our activities, challenging to bring out the best in each of us. It also poses the question how
competitors think about the core network values of sharing and pooling resources, knowledge and
contacts. Our motto is alone you are faster, together we get further.
In all, 2015 was a good year for AgriProFocus Tanzania. The lessons have been taken aboard while
planning for 2016. We are proud of the results we co-created with our partners and we look forward
for more.
0 AgriProFocus Tanzania Annual Report 2015
AgriProFocus Tanzania
Annual Report 2015