cases from tanzania - Sustainet

5 Scaling up
dairy goats, but then diversified into chickens, using many of the same approaches that
had been successful with goats.
• Using by-products Farming produces a lot of by-products. These are often seen as
“waste”, but they can be very valuable if used in the right way. An important feature of
sustainable agriculture is that it consciously uses these by-products: it makes compost
from weeds and crop residues, and uses manure as fertilizer. But they can be used in
other ways too: for example, the Diocese of Embu (p. 28) introduced biogas plants to
the dairy goat keepers it supported so they can use manure to make fuel for cooking.
• Promoting input supply Inputs can be expensive and hard for farmers to get. Organizations
promoting sustainable agriculture can also explore ways for farmers to produce
inputs locally. For example, in Homa Bay (p. 48), farmers now share various types of
seed as a result of AEP’s promotion of groundnut growing in the area. CCSMKE (p.
12) has promoted the establishment of agro- and veterinary stores so farmers can buy
implements and get their animals vaccinated.
• Farmer organizations Organizing farmers is key to agricultural development in
East Africa. Individually, farmers have few opportunities to improve their livelihoods.
Together, they can access credit, buy inputs, process and sell produce, control erosion,
converse soil, and protect forests. Even technically oriented development agencies find
that community organizing forms a large part of their task.
• Microfinance A shortage of capital often means that farmers cannot invest even the
small amounts needed to make money out sustainable agriculture technologies. Most
Figure 24 Functional scaling up involves adapting or adding activities to suit a wider range of
conditions
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