User talk:Zefumo12

Abdallah Shelufumo was born in Dar es salaam, Tanzania, he went to St. Matthew's Secondary School for his O'level and A'level studies in 2001-2007. And he graduate his first degree in International business and management from Sunderland University in United Kingdom. Abdallah Shelufumo who owns Zefumo company http://www.zefumo.blogspot.com/ has always been ambitious in business career where he finds himself more likely with the opportunities to invest in agriculture sector in Tanzania (SME's).

Abdallah Shelufumo
Tanzania’s agriculture industry is poised to notch up gains in the near future as small farmers across the country lead the way to improve productivity through irrigation and eliminate rural poverty.

Though the dark shadow of the recent global economic downturn has not disappeared, it has not frustrated the farmers’ efforts and zeal to combat poverty.

“Water is the key entry point for boosting agricultural productivity and incomes,” says Alfred Wise, director of KickStart International Tanzania, the non-profit organisation behind the popularisation of manually operated water pumps used on smallholder irrigation projects.

Since there has been little use of technology or mechanisation to advance agriculture in Tanzania, the organisation develops and markets technologies that local entrepreneurs acquire and apply to set up their own or family businesses.

Tanzania having, on the one hand, missed out on industrialisation while, on the other hand, it has to adapt quickly to the impacts of climate change, cannot afford to remain steeped in failure.

Its agriculture industry once boomed when coffee, sisal and cashew nuts fetched high prices on the global market. That time is gone.

Many traditional growers of these commodities have lost hope for better deals from overseas buyers. It’s no wonder, therefore, that they had to switch to food production for the localised market which has minimal uncertainty about the future.

“When I talk to farmers in the villages, I realise that they aren’t in short supply of ideas about the future,” says Anne Otieno, KickStart’s sales manager who has crisscrossed the country, persuading newcomers to drop the strenuous use of irrigation cans and buy ‘MoneyMaker’ brand hip pumps.

Despite inequalities in their incomes and wealth, Otieno believes that small farmers in general have the capacity to bail themselves out of the economic crunch.

In the opinion of field workers who keep in touch with farming communities on a day-to-day basis, there is urgent need for the authorities in Tanzania to reform, strengthen and modernise the whole credit system for rural entrepreneurs.

The purchasing power of individual smallholders is very crucial for their attainment of self-reliance through irrigation farming. The current situation requires a comprehensive approach by all stakeholders, based on resources, skills transfer and institutional management in order to bail the whole nation out of poverty.

KickStart has developed a network that embraces not only pump distributors but also agricultural extension agents, environmentalists, water engineers and leaders in the business community, among others, to support farmers who are keen to make a difference in their lives.

This is because the organisation believes self-motivated private entrepreneurs managing small-scale enterprises, when given the necessary support, can play a dynamic role in the economies of developing countries such as Tanzania.

In sub-Sahara Africa spells of drought have become a regular cause of crop yields reduction and total failure. Farmers cannot put more land under crops in the absence of a reliable rainfall or water supply. Otherwise, farming becomes a risk that everybody is reluctant to undertake.

Tanzania boasts 90 million hectares of arable land but less than 0.2 percent is irrigated. That being the case, aren’t statistics which are often quoted belying the assertion that farming accounts for 80 percent of employment in this country?

If the bulk of the population really worked on farms throughout the year, agriculture would definitely double the 27 percent contribution it makes to the national GDP and food security could be guaranteed.

Most of the farmers still use hand hoes and other simple implements to till the land. According to a recent study by Sokoine University of Agriculture, 14 million hoes were in use in the country and around 9,500 tractors were operational.

The effectiveness of policies and measures being taken by the government to overcome backwardness in this very important sector should be assessed by their ability to relieve small producers of the drudgery that has for long held back their productivity.

According to Wise, technology must have significant impact in the peoples’ lives, it must be cost-effective, and must yield a high return on the investment they make from meagre resources.

“If we are asking poor farmers to buy something, they must get their investment back very quickly, and a whole lot more,” Wise remarked at a function, held at KickStart head office in Dar es Salaam last week, to honour some of the key people and companies that were working with his organisation to make the impact on thousands of lives in Tanzania possible.

KickStart is enabling more and more farmers to access water in order to diversify and grow higher-value crops such as fruits and vegetables.

“Unlike farmers who wait for the rains, who all come to market at the same time with the same crops, farmers using irrigation also have crops to sell in dry seasons when prices are high,” Wise said.

Salum Ismail Masimbo, a 50-year-old passion fruit grower from Malela village in Mkuranga District, Coast Region, attested to this statement saying that since 2007 when he bought his MoneyMaker irrigation pump, his monthly income has risen from 80,000/- to over 400,000/-.

“I don’t dress elegantly but irrigation farming has opened the door of education for my children. My family is now well nourished and lives comfortably in the village. I have enrolled my firstborn in a high school of my own choice using my own money and the other children are attending school as well,” said Masimbo.

Masimbo paid 109,000/- three years ago to acquire the MoneyMaker pump. Currently, the units are available in two types with the hip pump selling at 99,000/- while the super pump goes for 167,000/-. Tanzanian farmers have the urge to work but need affordable implements and inputs to advance the industry. But the challenge to help millions of them escape poverty is tremendously huge.

The staff of KickStart believe that have tested their abilities to meet the challenge and have evidence to show that MoneyMaker pumps and small scale irrigation may be the critical first step toward achieving the desired goal.

“To reach as many farmers as we need, we must have the best business operations and partners. We must build the best sales force, and have the best distributor network and the highest performing agro dealer network,” Wise summed up.

The government has just passed a national irrigation development policy that caps the Kilimo Kwanza (agriculture first) blueprint on the country’s move to bring about a green revolution.

But all these are guidelines hatched on paper. Much as they revive the old agenda of putting agriculture at the heart of development, their fruition can be stalled by bureaucratic red tapes if the authorities don’t use their stick to give implementers a continuous nudging.

Abdallah Shelufumo
Abdallah Shelufumo was born in Dar es salaam, Tanzania, he went to St. Matthew's Secondary School for his O'level and A'level studies in 2001-2007. And he graduate his first degree in International business and management from Sunderland University in United Kingdom. Abdallah Shelufumo who owns Zefumo company http://www.zefumo.blogspot.com/ has always been ambitious in business career where he finds himself more likely with the opportunities to invest in agriculture sector in Tanzania (SME's).