cases from tanzania - Sustainet

CHEMA: Organic farming in Karagwe District
Figure 18 Through CHEMA’s training, the farmers learned alternatives to the practices that
were destroying their environment and livelihoods
After each module, staff visited each farm two or three times to follow up and provide any
advice necessary.
As part of the training, the farmers were encouraged to grow organic pineapples to earn
money. As a result, 80% of the farmers who had attended the training adopted mulching,
76% adopted mixed cropping, 66% applied manure, and 40% took up composting. Mulching
was popular because it reduced the amount of work needed for weeding. Fifty farmers
shifted to organic farming completely.
As the farmers’ yields increased and income rose, their neighbours started to copy the
technologies. They later approached CHEMA and asked to be trained too. In response, the
Diocese of Rulenge gradually extended its sustainable agriculture to cover other parts of
Karagwe District, as well as Ngara and Biharamulo, the two other districts in the Diocese.
Between 1998 and 2002, CHEMA trained about 1,000 farmers in the three districts.
contract farming
The contract farming arrangement began in 2001 when a retired German Lutheran pastor,
Mr Hermann, who once lived and served in Karagwe District, visited CHEMA to learn about
its work. He realized that farmers were having problems selling their high-value organically
produced fruit in the local market. After retiring, Mr Hermann had gone into the business
of importing organic fruits from Uganda to Germany. He decided to establish a similar
business in Karagwe.
After consultation with CHEMA, Mr Hermann set up a firm called Matunda Mema Co. Ltd.,
which buys, processes and export pineapples. The initial board of directors was comprised
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