Quality standards for enhanced market access for small-holder farmers in Tanzania (SEMA)

About the project

Country: Tanzania

Period: 2021 - 2022

Project partner: Food and Forest Development Finland (FFD) and the Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA)

Objective: Agriculture forms an essential part of the national economy in Tanzania. Under the Tanzanian Five Year Development Plan, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to strengthen agriculture so that its share of Tanzania’s GDP will rise from 22% at present to 32% by 2025 or 2026. In addition, a national food security target has been set, with a self-sufficiency rate of 140%.

As part of the efforts to meet these targets, a partnership between GLOBALG.A.P., the Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA), and the Finnish agriculture agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD) sought to create better, more sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers in Tanzania. The partnership aimed to encourage smallholders to meet the quality demands of domestic export markets in order to drive growth. Specifically, increased awareness of and alignment with European market requirements was pursued through training on the GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard for fruit and vegetables as well as the SPRING and GRASP add-ons.

In order to continue to grow the agricultural sector in Tanzania and support the goals of the Five Year Development Plan, the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat worked to increase the number of producers in Tanzania with certified production processes and to support farmers in achieving GLOBALG.A.P. certification.

Approach: GLOBALG.A.P. facilitated the delivery of several online training workshops to enhance the capacities of local experts in the implementation of the IFA standard for fruit and vegetables. Several TAHA experts were trained in becoming Registered Trainers. The project also focused on training producers in the implementation and assessment of GRASP.  GLOBALG.A.P. worked with TAHA and FFD to organize a multi-day GLOBALG.A.P. TOUR stop in November 2022 as well, aimed at addressing market access challenges that are preventing compliance with GLOBALG.A.P. standards. The TOUR stop provided farmers, exporters, and traders with the information they need to not only achieve certification to IFA for fruit and vegetables but also to comply with the latest social sustainability criteria (including GRASP) and achieve sustainable water management through the SPRING add-on.

SDGs addressed: #2 zero hunger, #3 good health and well-being, #12 responsible consumption and production, and #17 partnerships for the goals

Outcome

A total of 15 TAHA experts were trained on the IFA standard for fruit and vegetables and GRASP, enabling them as Registered Trainers to further guide producers through the implementation process. TAHA also gained capacities to host the Tanzanian National Technical Working Group (NTWG) for fruit and vegetables and to develop National Interpretation Guidelines (NIG).

As of June 2023, almost 800 Tanzanian producers were certified to IFA for fruit and vegetables. Over 600 were certified to GRASP and one was certified to SPRING. While the capacity building project has ended, the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat continues to work in Tanzania providing private IFA trainings.