cases from tanzania - Sustainet

Results
PELUM-Tanzania: Networking for sustainable agriculture
A study on agricultural markets and trade in Tanzania looked at ways to provide incentives to
producers while keeping consumer prices low. Low prices for producers not only discourage
the production of food crops, resulting in food insecurity at the national level and a poorly
organized marketing system for traditional food crops. Producers face high losses during
times of glut as a consequence of inadequate storage, processing, transport and quality
control systems.
For another Nane Nane farmers’ day, farmers chose “Access to markets as a pillar to improved
agriculture” as an advocacy and lobbying issue. In response to farmers’ calls, the Ministry of
Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives has started involving representatives of smallholder
farmers through MVIWATA in the formulation of national market policy.
Developing the peluM-tanzania network
PELUM-Tanzania is a small organization with just four staff: a coordinator, a project officer,
an advocacy officer, and a secretary. Despite this, it can achieve a great deal because its
members are willing to contribute their time, information, expertise and energy to sharing
for the common good. They do this because the whole is greater than the sum of the parts:
each member organization benefits more than it gives.
Activities
PELUM-Tanzania holds annual general meetings to discuss the previous year’s activities,
review progress, plan activities, and develop strategies. In September 1999, the members met
to develop a vision and mission statement (Box 16) and to refine the organization’s strategies
and the roles of its staff.
PELUM-Tanzania has invested in an office in a strategic location in Dodoma, the political
capital in the centre of the country. The advocacy officer is located in a partner organization’s
office in Dar es Salaam, where much of the government is still located.
Results
PELUM-Tanzania’s membership has grown from five in 1995 to 33 in 2005. The organization
has built up a strong constituency and has gained a reputation for high-quality, innovative
work with and on behalf of smallholder farmers, who are the majority of Tanzania’s
population. PELUM-Tanzania’s member and partner organizations have formed strong
local partnerships.
The various forums have sown the seeds of good relationships and strong partnerships
among the various organizations and their respective constituencies. Collaborative efforts
have covered activities such as needs assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of activities. Collaboration is growing between NGOs, local authorities and central
governments. PELUM-Tanzania’s members work closely with district and village councils
during all phases of development activities. In 2002, the central government enacted the
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