Between the 18th to the 20th June, 2019, at the Economic and Social Research Foundation’s offices in Dar es Salaam, a diverse range of stakeholders including farmers, processors, regulators, policy makers and experts from across the Tanzanian dairy, maize and citrus industries came together as the IIAP project made its debut in Tanzania.
The workshops were attended by the three project partners from the Tanzanian Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED) based at the University of Johannesburg and the Centre for African Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
The purpose of the workshops was to seek valuable feedback and gain insights from stakeholders by presenting the IIAP research questions and project design prior to embarking on the data collection phase. The intention of seeking feedback at such an early stage was to incorporate stakeholder input from the outset and help shape the project to make it more relevant.
The first workshop took place on Tuesday, 18th June. It focused on the dairy value chain and featured contributions from Mr. Karim Msemo, a Principal Economist at the Tanzanian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Dr. George Msalya, Lecturer at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and representatives from the Tanzania Milk Processors Association and the Tanzania Dairy Board.
A key upstream challenge was the prevalence of indigenous cows with low levels of milk production and informal milk markets. Inadequate storage practices had knock-on effects for dairy product hygiene and spoilage. There was also discussion around the under-developed dairy market in Tanzania and the need for greater collaboration between producers and processors.
Wednesday’s maize workshop included presentations from Mr. Lusaju Bukuku from the World Food Programme, Mr. Deo Shayo from the Tanzania Trade Development Authority and Dr. Innocensia John, Lecturer at the College of Agricultural Sciences and Fisheries Technology based in Dar es Salaam.
The workshop yielded some fascinating insights into the maize industry in Tanzania. These included the problem of post-harvest management with poor storage practices and insufficient space affecting food safety and quality; something that was also prominent in the dairy workshop the day before.
In addition to this, the lack of incentives for improving safety standards and lack of effective grading were also brought up as key challenges. Small-scale milling still dominates in Tanzania but there are a number of rapidly growing medium sized milling companies.
The final day’s citrus value chain workshop heard from numerous stakeholders included the Director of Tanzania Agriculture Development Bank, Dr Nyankomo Marwa, as well as Senior Trade Officer, Asha F. Malanga, from the Tanzania Trade Development Authority and Mr. Benjamin Mfupe, Production Manager at the Agriculture Seed Agency.
The main issues highlighted at the workshop related again to the problem of inadequate storage facilities and access to technology leading to large post-harvest losses. Attendees also highlighted the challenges of low fruit quality, limited processing capacity and lack of market access for small and medium-sized farmers.
The stakeholder workshops were extremely helpful in guiding the research team as they progress onto the data collection stage. The valuable insights gained from the workshops regarding each of the three value chains will be used to refine the data collection tools.
The project team would like to extend a huge thank-you to all who came along and shared their expertise and experience!
