Reiterating its dedication to advancing agricultural growth and empowering Tanzanian farmers is HEIFER International.The organization, which is celebrating 50 years of operation in the nation, has helped over 1.1 million people, with a concentration on households headed by women.
At the most recent Farmers Day (Nanenane) in Dodoma, Heifer International Tanzania’s Country Director, Mark Tsoxo, stated, “As we celebrate 50 years of partnership with Tanzanian farmers and rural communities, our efforts have empowered over 1.1 million families, with 40 percent of them being women-led.”Through programs like the Pass-On-the-Gift approach, which has combined dairy programs with other agricultural activities and distributed over 282,050 dairy cows, 57,200 dairy goats, and other livestock to rural communities across the nation, he reaffirmed the organization’s support.
He claims that the following areas will benefit: the Central Zone in Dodoma, Manyara, and Singida; the Lake Zone in Mwanza, Geita, Kagera, Mara, and Shinyanga; the Coastal Areas in Coast Region and Dar es Salaam; and the Southern Highlands of Mbeya, Iringa, and Njombe.He noted that 52,522 self-help groups, such as the Tumaini Jipya group in Mufindi and the Buswema group in Rungwe, have been established thanks to Heifer over the years. In addition to working with local communities, he stated, “the organization has supported the formation of 116 primary cooperatives, including the MUKOTU Dairy Cooperative, Mufindi Dairy Cooperative, Iringa Dairy Cooperative, UWAKUMPU, and six youth-focused programs.”He emphasized recent successes, stating that the company has used a Market System Development strategy to increase milk flow to the official market from 55,000 to 129,000 liters per day, drawing in 3.6 million US dollars in investment from the private sector. The organization has also started the Tanzania leg of the AYuTe Africa Challenge, which aims to empower young agritech entrepreneurs across the continent.
These 22 Milk Collection Centers have a combined capacity of 72,000 liters per day, accounting for 20% of the nation’s collection capacity.In addition to financial rewards and professional advice support, the project focuses on improving agricultural sustainability and production. In a similar vein, he declared that Heifer International Tanzania is dedicated to utilizing technology—including digital platforms and mobile-based services—to improve market accessibility and farming productivity as it looks to the future.
Furthermore, he stated that via the farmer visibility project, roughly 106,000 sunflower farmers had digital profiles and were made visible to important players in the ecosystem.
