Sesame marketing
Basalisa, chair of her local sesame farmers' cooperative, harvests her sesame crop.
Sesame is well suited to the dry conditions in northern Tanzania. Thanks to strong local and international demand, it can fetch good prices.
We are helping farmers to grow bigger and better sesame crops, and to market them better to earn higher prices.
Better seeds
First we worked with farmers’ groups to test different types of sesame seeds to see which produced the best harvests.
Now we’re training the same groups to use the improved seeds and encouraging them to join an officially registered co-operative that the Tanzanian government supports with seed loans.
We help sesame farmers earn more money by:
- training farmers in sorting, cleaning and packaging sesame, as well as measuring oil and moisture content to enable better marketing and higher prices
- supporting individual farmers to store their harvest in the co-operative warehouse before selling the harvest in bulk. Selling collectively ensures higher prices.
- helping farmers access the latest sesame market information, including price trends, seed prices, buyer locations and export prices. These farmers then distribute the information within their communities.
- helping the farmers’ co-operative to secure contracts to sell large amounts of sesame at a good price.
Who are we helping?
We are working with 920 farmers and will reach a further 4,600 people and their families.
Farm aid not food aid
Support our work today and help rural African families end their reliance on food aid.
