A World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) pilot of growing multipurpose, fast growing leguminous trees such as gliricidia (gliricidia sepium), grevillea robusta and melia is helping hundreds of smallholder Tanzanian farmers build resilient farming systems. The pilot, conducted in collaboration with Africa Rising Project, has seen Tanzanian farmers in soil erosion-battered districts…
The Tanzanian government has culled 5 000 one day old chicks that were smuggled through the northern border from Kenya. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Livestock Maria Mashingo said the chicks were destroyed to prevent the potential spread of avian influenza, or bird flu, from Kenya. She said the…
The application of technologies to scale up sustainable agricultural productivity is paying dividends to more than 50 000 Tanzanian smallholder farmers. The intervention, a brainchild of USAID Tanzania funded Africa Rising (NAFAKA), has exceeded the targets set when it was unveiled in 2014. “The efficacy of the technologies being promoted…
The Tanzanian government has ordered coffee farmers to stop selling their produce to middlemen and traders who roam villages, saying all coffee should now be sold through auctions. The order immediately revoked thousands of coffee buying permits held by traders who have been operating in the 16 coffee producing regions…
The Tanzanian poultry industry is gearing up for the introduction of Cobb 500 broiler chickens by a new breeding partnership between Irvines Tanzania Limited and Tyson Foods of the United States of America. Irvines Tanzania Managing Director Pietro Stella said the Sh32 billion poultry farm in the Kilimanjaro region will…
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will support Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda to add value to their cotton sectors. “We expect improved capacity of policymakers to formulate evidence-based polices that improve the value add to cotton and devise investment profiles to attract investors,” said Kris Terauds,…
The Tanzanian government says it hopes to boost productivity by scrapping 17 taxes and levies that were charged for the buying, processing, marketing and selling of coffee to local and export markets. Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Minister Charles Tizeba said the review followed numerous complaints from farmers and value chain…
There is an increased chance of La Niña conditions developing during the remaining spring months and summer, predictions from the US Climate Prediction Centre show. According to the latest El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diagnostic discussion issuedView Post by the CPC, predictions show that a La Niña system can form as…
A local brewery providing a reliable market to barley farmers in Tanzania shows how a country, farmers and industry can benefit from partnerships in the farming sector. The Tanzanian Daily News recently reported of the Tanzanian Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Dr Charles Tizeba,who said Tanzanian barley farmers can…
The South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) aims to increase trade and investment with Kenya and Tanzania. The department will lead 27 South African companies from various sectors on a mission to the two countries at the end of June, to identify trade and investment opportunities. Rob Davies,…
Africanfarming.com has had a few calls for help from farmers desperate to stop elephants from cutting destructive swathes through their crop lands. What to do about “problem animals” is a question as old as farming itself. Farmers are the people of the African plains and forests and elephants are the…
American researchers in Tanzania found that factors such as poverty and the use of traditional healers could have a significant impact on the creation of antimicrobial resistant viruses, bacteria and other parasites, and on the transfer of these microbes from livestock to humans. The study found, for instance, that the…
Zambian farmers have asked their government to ban Tanzanian tomato imports in a bid to protect them against “unfair competition”. Farmers said the imports meant that local prices were deflated by as much as ZMW150 per 25kg box. The permanent secretary for agriculture - Julius Shawa - said although there…
Chillies are fairly easy to grow in field conditions and they are a healthy addition to most meals. Here are some production tips to ensure robust, productive plants. As a general rule, the smaller, narrower and darker the chilli, the greater is its flavour. The tip of a chilli is…
A farm worker uses melted tubes of tyres to repair a cracked farm dam. It works better than any product on the market and costs almost nothing. When all the plans a farmer can make have been made and still nothing works like it’s supposed to, one tends to get…
It’s that time of the year when temperatures are still high. If you’re running broiler chickens think about their water needs. Water is a hugely important part of broiler production since broiler chickens need to drink twice as much water as the quantity of feed they eat. Chickens should always…
The South African Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, asked key investment players to look at investing in the African agricultural sector and make it possible to release the continent’s potential as the world’s food production hub. During his speech at the African Agri Investment Indaba, on Monday…
