Leveraging investment for sustainable household economic development

This project aimed to increase income and job opportunities in the Longido district in Tanzania’s Arusha region. Through sustainable horticulture production and other relevant livelihood activities, women and young people, who live in severe poverty and face the worst effects of drought, benefitted from meaningful employment.

Farm Africa supported communities at a local level and jump-started economic activity to ensure farmers could generate income to sustain themselves. With a holistic approach, we built farmers’ capacities in addressing climate change challenges and improved their food security. We made use of the existing farming community and irrigation schemes and promoted climate-smart agriculture practices and value addition activities to provide affordable food for domestic and export markets. Apart from introducing farmers to relevant market information on horticulture crops, smallholder farmers were also trained on climate-smart agricultural technologies and products.

This project also focused on increasing knowledge on gender equality, improving local institutional capacity on gender inclusivity and promoting the participation of women and young people in sustainable economic activities. When implementing these activities, Farm Africa involved village, ward and district extension agents who continued the advisory role after the project ended. This participatory method of involving all relevant actors ensures the project’s activities are sustainable long-term.

This project was implemented by Farm Africa in collaboration with local government authorities in Longido district. Farm Africa worked with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) under the GEF Small Grants Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).