As New Year 2021 enters, over 100.600 smallholders in the country will earn USD 493.500 grants to grain and vegetable seeds to help them produce sustainable food.
By way of its latest ‘Better Farms, Better Lives’ initiative, Bayer, a life science-oriented multinational corporation, will be running the programme for the next 12 months, beginning this month and covering 25 districts in Mainland Tanzania.
Bayer will support its existing pledge to help smallholder farmers in Africa by providing them with free hybrid maize and vegetable seeds.
The boost, according to Bayer Tanzania manager Frank Wenga, is intended to help them fight the impact of the global Covid 19 pandemic that triggered a series of global food shortages in the previous year.
Liam Condon, The President of Bayer’s Crop Science Division, said, “To provide food security for billions of people smallholder farmers are vital , but the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic puts additional challenges on their ability to grow food for their communities and beyond.”
Also aimed at supporting more than 700,000 small-scale farmers across the African continent, Bayer’s ‘Better Farms, Better Lives’ initiative also aims to provide market access assistance to farmers in line with Bayer’s overall aspiration to create a world where ‘Health for All, Hunger for None’ exists.
Bob Shuma, Executive Director of Tanzania Seed Trade Association, initiated this particular food security programme at Bayer Life Science Tanzania offices in Njiro, Arusha.
The programme is being implemented in a variety of countries throughout Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zimbabwe, while its flag is in Arusha.
The initiative focuses on the provision of assistance to small farmers in the face of additional challenges that the coronavirus pandemic may pose.
To ensure full impact, Bayer will work and extend its partnerships with governments, recognised NGOs and local organisations; increase access to agronomy services and knowledge; reinforce established and new value chain partnerships and further expand value chain partnerships across Africa.
Bayer focuses on giving small farmers the resources they need to address immediate challenges, building their resilience for the future and ensuring that the Covid-19 pandemic does not transform from a health crisis into a hunger crisis, said Klaus Eckstein, head of Africa, Crop Science Division.
In Tanzania, Bayer will collaborate in a 200-ton distribution of Bayer’s Decalb corn and a 100 gramme mark of seeds of vegetables, all worth US$ 493,500 to 25 districts like Meru, Songea, Iringa, and Kudoa, with Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and the Agricultural Council of Tanzania (ACT).
