Hoping for more young people in the cooperative
27-07-2022Karansi AMCOS is located in the Karansi area on the slopes of mount Kilimanjaro, Siha District, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Karansi AMCOS was founded in October 1987 and started with 120 members. Currently, the cooperative has 881 active members of which 1% are youngsters.
After a scoping exercise and cooperative assessment, it had become clear that Karansi has a large number of coffee growers who need better coffee handling training. Also, the number of youths involved in coffee growing is small. So it was agreed upon to find a solution and a training was prepared for 20 youths.
The training was given to two separate groups of 10 participants. Group 1 received training on coffee pruning by TACRI trainers, whereas group 2 received training on coffee spraying against pests by experts from TPHPA. The training was held for 3 days for each group.
TACRI is the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI), owned by the government and TPHA is the institute who conducts research on tropical pests affecting plants, livestock and human health.
Results
After all the activities were executed, the following results had been achieved;
- Awareness of coffee pruning
- Awareness of coffee spraying against pests
- The correct use of pesticides
- The importance of spray providers using protective clothing to avoid harm and to protect their health
- Availability of equipment to use during pruning and spraying
Expectations and action plans
After the training both groups set up an action plan for things to do including;
- The creation of a youth council that will serve as a platform for youths within the cooperative
- Emphasising youth owning coffee farms 2.
- Working the farmer fields by pruning and spraying as a follow up of the training they received
- Continuing to put the training into practice. This will create employment for youths within the cooperative and will lead to an increasing number of youths joining the AMC.
And if all will be done as expected, the members will benefit by;
- Improving their farms and, hence, increasing their productivity
- Increasing their income as it is the dream of every farmer.
- An increasing number of youths in the cooperative
- Employment creation by these 20 youths.
