agriprofocus tanzania annual report 2015

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

mailto:[email protected]



http://agriprofocus.com/tanzania


http://www.agriprofocus.com/


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


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


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


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).


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.

http://agriprofocus.com/post/55360b42d58d8314dad9c849

http://agriprofocus.com/post/55360b42d58d8314dad9c849

http://agriprofocus.com/post/551c1d65d58d8355903a967d

http://agriprofocus.com/post/554e4819d58d83229c258289

http://agriprofocus.com/dairy-learning-lab-tanzania

http://agriprofocus.com/post/559a49aad58d830f282072d4

http://agriprofocus.com/post/55dd6fcda93f25681ebf02b9


http://agriprofocus.com/post/55ed5332a93f254dd1d4a672

http://agriprofocus.com/post/55ed5332a93f254dd1d4a672

http://agriprofocus.com/post/560258ffa93f2573171daaba

http://agriprofocus.com/post/560258ffa93f2573171daaba

http://agriprofocus.com/post/560a3e1ca93f256891920c15

http://agriprofocus.com/horti-2015-competition

http://agriprofocus.com/horti-2015-competition

http://agriprofocus.com/post/565eecdca93f25205f070e62


http://agriprofocus.com/horticulture-event-2015

http://agriprofocus.com/horticulture-event-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



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

https://www.facebook.com/apftanzania


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.



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


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)


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


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


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


http://agriprofocus.com/youth


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.

http://agriprofocus.com/post/5672c21ca93f25362fbe5282


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


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


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


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


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.


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


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.


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.


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.


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


Sharing information / experiences / knowledge 3,06 81

Openness to collaborate with others 3,01 71

Providing resources / expertise 2,73 70


Skipped question 28

67. Appreciation of own professional contribution to the network


Sharing information / experiences / knowledge 2,84 82

Openness to collaborate with others 2,92 73

Providing resources / expertise 2,60 73


Skipped question 28

68. General appreciation of the AgriProFocus network


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


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


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.


AgriProFocus Tanzania

Annual Report 2015

agriprofocus tanzania annual report 2015

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