The power of public private partnerships

04-04-2022

EAT FRESH is a Public Private Partnership project implemented in the horticulture value chain of the Southern Highlands in Tanzania. Partners in the project are TechForce, GBRI, Guava, Agriterra and NEEC.

The purpose of the project is to make the Iringa and Njombe regions viable sources for the production of French beans, snow peas and avocados.

In this project Agriterra is working jointly with a local company (GBRI Solutions) to develop the supply chain for avocados. We are doing this in partnership with 9 cooperatives and 2,000 farmers.

Agriterra is supporting the cooperatives with business plan development, finance management and making the connection with the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) for facilitating input loans for farmers.

GBRI is buying and exporting the avocados, but also providing extension services to farmers. Guavay is supplying organic fertilizer to the farmers. They want to offer a more sustainable alternative to existing fertilizers, which are becoming expensive for farmers and to promote healthier soils. Techforce is the Dutch consultancy responsible for market linkages to the EU market and coordinating the project as main applicant.

In February harvesting season has started in Southern Highlands (Njombe and Iringa). The first tons of avocados from the farmers have been harvested and bought by GBRI. The majority of these avocados are exported to other African countries and Europe. The farmers harvested on average 100 KG of avocados per tree, resulting in 80 USD per tree. The project is starting to produce its first tangible results. In addition to this, new farmer groups and cooperatives are willing to participate under EAT FRESH and supply avocados to GBRI as well, to meet increasing demands.

Watch the movie about EAT FRESH