At Work Around the World

Tanzania

Quality protein maize farming, introduced by a joint partnership between The Carter Center and the Sasakawa Africa Association, has been so successful that the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center has asked The Carter Center to assist with production of an educational video.


Building Hope

In Tanzania, erratic rains during farming seasons leave agricultural productions in boom and bust cycles, making the population particularly vulnerable during drought. The Carter Center's Agriculture Program and the Tanzania Ministry of Agriculture, though, are working toward a future of better food security. Based on the trust forged during these programs, Tanzania invited The Carter Center to assist with an initiative to repatriate Rwandan refugees and curb violence in the region. Together, Tanzania and The Carter Center are working to wage peace and build hope for a brighter future.


Fighting Disease

Increasing Food Production

From 1988 to 2005, The Carter Center has collaborated with the Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture to increase food security. The Tanzanian program is part of a joint venture between the Carter Center's Global 2000 Program and the Sasakawa Africa Association, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug. Thus far, the effort has helped more than 4 million African farm families improve agricultural production.

During the 2002-2003 farming season, the program worked with communities to demonstrate soil fertility restoration technologies. Workshops were held on quality protein maize cultivation, and the program hosted frequent field days - events where farmers learn about new farming techniques as a community.
To combat Tanzania's erratic rainfall, the program experimented with different cultivation methods and drought-resistant produce to see which are most successful in the often inhospitable conditions. Among the experimental crops are: pigeon peas, maize, mucuna, lablab, and sorghum.

In 2003-2004, most parts of the country, particularly the northeastern and central regions, received insufficient rainfall, which resulted in an overall food deficit of about 10 percent. Irrigation offers a means of reducing the dependency on rain, thereby stabilizing food crop production and reducing the risks of food shortages. It is also a sustainable option for increasing agricultural production and productivity. In response to these needs, in August 2004, SG 2000 organized and sponsored a training course on rainwater harvesting and construction of underground water storage tanks in the village of Makanya, in Same district. This demonstrated the options available to small-scale farmers to increase water availability at household level. The course was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security through the Participatory Agricultural Development and Empowerment Project--a five-year project run by MAFS and financed by a credit fund from the World Bank. In total, 12 trainees from Babati, Hai, Hanang, Iramba, Karatu, Kiteto, Same, Singida, and Uyui district councils, as well as from MAFS, participated in the training course. These participants are now able to use their newly acquired knowledge and skills to demonstrate the water-harvesting technology in their respective districts.

Additionally, farmers have learned new animal maneuvers and techniques that help them better control their oxen during cultivation. Credit was provided for fertilizers and seeds so that farmers can grow production test plots. Following successful harvests, which usually exceed previous harvests by 200 to 400 percent, the farmers teach their neighbors about the new technologies, creating a ripple effect to stimulate food self-sufficiency in the nation.

Adopting new technologies to improve crop yields is only half the battle as farmers then must find ways to sell their surplus crops. The Tanzania program helped farmers identify local markets for these surpluses, because transporting them can be costly and inefficient. For example, local breweries are using homegrown maize or sorghum to decrease barley imports. The program also focused on post-harvest technologies, including methods for processing and storing grains. Tanzania's post-harvest program is so effective that it has become a regional showpiece, with program workers from Ethiopia, Malawi, and Zambia traveling to visit storage sites in Tanzania. Developing these "exchange" programs is one way for other national program participants to benefit from the success and expertise of their neighbors.

However, the new cultivation methods are not sustainable unless Tanzanian farmers can continue to get credit independently for developing their farms now that the SG 2000 Program is completed. A solution for this problem was established in Benin in the mid-1990s: village-based savings and loan organizations. These rural banks are part of a new movement in Africa to provide farmers in remote areas with the credit they need to purchase new crops, tools, and fertilizers. Tanzania established its first of these organizations in 1997.

Overall, Tanzanian farmers are developing and sustaining their farms at a highly encouraging rate, so much so that the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center asked SG 2000 to assist with production of an educational video. The video project focuses on one particularly successful crop, quality protein maize. Interviews with farmers, researchers, and government officials during field visits, field days, and workshops will inform farmers who may be interested in planting quality protein maize on their farms.
In one interview, Eshimedhi A Lema, a farmer who had experimented with feeding quality protein maize to her pigs, commented, "I am surprised at the big differences in pig growth between normal maize and quality protein maize. Quality protein maize can help us to increase our income through breeding livestock."

The video is expected to be completed in 2004, and will be available in Swahili, Tanzania's national language.

These successes and others in agricultural development programming led SG 2000 to end its in-country agricultural activities in Tanzania in September 2004.

Click here for more information on the Carter Center's Agriculture Program.


Waging Peace

Following the Rwandan genocide of 2004 the presidents of Uganda and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) asked President Carter to facilitate a meeting between themselves and the presidents of Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania - countries collectively known as the Great Lakes region of Africa - to negotiate a regional initiative to combat the climate of genocide, repatriate 1.7 million Rwandan refugees, and curb violence in the region. President Carter was joined in this effort by former Tanzania President Julius Nyerere, former Mali President Amadou Touré, and South Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu. After summits in Cairo and Tunis in March 1996, the presidents agreed to:

• Prevent cross-border raids into any country
• Halt arms flow to rebel groups
• Remove people stirring fears that it is unsafe to return to Rwanda from refugee camps
• Return military equipment to its country of origin, including Rwandan equipment held in Zaire
• Turn over individuals indicted for genocide crimes to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and
• Allow some 300 human rights observers in Rwanda to work with returning refugees.

However, despite these important commitments and strenuous efforts to implement them, there was little support from the international community, and most refugees finally returned to Rwanda only when full-scale violence broke out in Zaire.

Mediating Conflict

In October 1995, heads of state in the Great Lakes region of Africa asked The Carter Center to help them undertake a regional initiative to stimulate the repatriation of 1.7 million Rwandan refugees and curb violence in the region. The presidents of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire have held summits in Cairo (November 1995) and in Tunis (March 1996), where they agreed upon actions that would be required by their countries and the international community to finally bring peace, justice, reconciliation, stability, and development to this troubled region. Invited by the African presidents to facilitate those formal meetings and ongoing consultations were former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Tanzania President Julius Nyerere, former Mali President Amadou Touré, and South Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Commitments made by the heads of state in Cairo and Tunis included promises to: prevent cross-border raids into any country and halt arms flow to rebel groups making incursions; remove from the camps intimidators stirring fears that it was unsafe to return to Rwanda; return military equipment to its country of origin, including that of the Rwandan government held in Zaire; deliver individuals indicted for crimes of genocide to the International Tribunal for Rwanda; identify and destroy hate radio inciting violence in Burundi; quickly create a justice system in Rwanda; and allow as many as 300 human rights observers in Rwanda to reassure returning refugees who feared for their safety.

Despite this comprehensive plan of action, refugees continued to return only in small numbers to Rwanda, and violence has escalated in Burundi. "It's not possible to solve the intractable questions of this region in just a few months. But I think that progress is being made," said President Carter during a worldwide telecast on CNNI in May 1996. "By bringing these leaders together, perhaps we have prevented even greater problems, and I hope we are creating the basis for future progress in this neglected region."

The leaders remain committed to working together to resolve these complex, interrelated, and long-term problems.