by Making a show of Tanzania’s breadbasket
How demonstration plots boosted knowledge and use of fertilizer.
In the lush Southern Highlands of Tanzania lies the country’s breadbasket, here, maize, potatoes and sunflowers are grown among the rolling hills and verdant valleys.
This is why Elly Hongoli decided to start up Mkombozi Agribusiness Enterprises Limited company, a hub agrodealer, in the Njombe region in 2015. Mr. Hongoli poured his savings of $15,000 into this family enterprise, transforming it into a booming fertilizer and agricultural inputs business which supplies four regions – Njombe, Iringa, Ruvuma and Mbeya – and serves 45 agrodealers as well as 90,680 farmers in 132 villages.
Improved knowledge, says Mr. Hongoli, has assisted the company’s 16 demonstration plots, which were first established in various strategic locations in the region in the 2015/16 season.
Here, he says, farmers don’t just see results with their own eyes, but they are also able learn more about good agronomic practices, including how and when to apply fertilizers and at what rate.
- Smallholder farmers
- Working together for the greater good
- From poverty to prosperity
- From seed to market
- Hunger is ending
Farmers like the performance of our products, especially fertilizer, which has dramatically increased their yield levels, he says. They also have an agronomist who frequently visits farmers at their fields to provide technical advice on the use of fertilizer and other agrochemicals.
But it’s not just the demonstration plots that have contributed to the bottom line, Mkombozi Agribusiness also have constructed a warehouse, providing adequate storage for fertilizer in season, during the off-season the space is used to aggregate maize for processing at the company’s processing plant in Dar es Salaam, where farmers bring maize, red sorghum and white sorghum – creating a ready market for their farmers.
He hopes in the future that Mkombozi Agribusiness Enterprises will invest more in maize agro processing initiatives, including help with capital and technical expertise, such as training farmers on maize post-harvest handling and equipment.
Our plan is to increase efficiency at the maize milling plant to serve more people with our maize-flour products. This will enable us to buy more maize from farmers we serve with agro-inputs and address the problem of an unreliable maize market, says Mr. Hongolo.
Mkombozi Admin
Mkombozi Agribusiness Enterprises Limited
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3 comments
Jan 06, 2022
May i please request you to send me specifications for fertilizers pack you have in stock?.
Jan 06, 2022
Hello, please send us an email and we will provide you with the details.
Jan 06, 2022
Okay, thanks.