Six sustainable farming innovations showcased at Nane Nane

Last week, the 32nd Nane Nane International Agricultural Exhibition, Tanzania’s premier exhibition showcasing agricultural excellence, gave Farm Africa the opportunity to put six sustainable farming innovations in the spotlight.

This exhibition, which was held in Dodoma from 1–10 August 2026, brought together farmers, development organisations, students and the general public to explore the latest agricultural technologies from over 500 exhibitors from Tanzania and around the world.

Farm Africa was pleased to welcome many visitors to our stand, with a highlight being a visit from Dr Omari Nkullo, Executive Director of the Kongwa District (DED), who pledged to support Farm Africa’s initiatives.

Along with participants in our projects from the Kongwa and Babati Districts we demonstrated:

Solar vegetable drying
As part of the NOURISH project, Farm Africa is supporting 40 farmers’ groups in Dodoma, Manyara, Singida, Songwe and Rukwa to dry traditional vegetables such as pumpkin leaves, sweet potato leaves, kale, Chinese cabbage and spinach using solar dryers.

This hygienic drying method improves food security by helping farmers store vegetables for their families to eat during the dry season, when fresh vegetables cannot be grown, while preserving the precious nutrients in the vegetables.

Solar drying also helps farmers increase their incomes by making it possible for them to sell vegetables during the dry season, when scarcity means they command higher prices. Farmers we support took the opportunity to sell some of their dried vegetables at Nane Nane to a queue of willing buyers.

Nutritious flour production
Another way of hygienically storing food for the dry season is to dry crops such as sorghum, orange-fleshed potatoes and maize and make nutritious flours from them. The flour can be used to make food such as bread, cakes, chapatis, sometimes incorporating vegetables like carrots and green leafy vegetables such as amaranth.

The NOURISH project offers training to farmers on food budgeting: how to plan how much food to store for the dry season. We also provide tailored recipes on using the nutritious flours, along with vegetables and beans to make foods such as porridge suitable for babies or people who are ill.

The flours were in high demand at Nane Nane, with farmers securing many sales.

Agroforestry

We demonstrated how farmers can boost soil’s fertility and moisture levels by planting cereal crops alongside agroforestry trees, such as Gliricidia trees and papaya trees. Gliricidia is effective at fixing nitrogen in soil, while papaya trees offer the added benefit of providing a supply of fruit to eat and sell.

At Nane Nane, farmers supported by Farm Africa sold Gliricidia powder, made from the dried, ground leaves of the tree. The powder is an effective organic green fertiliser that helps farmers boost yields.

Biochar

Another effective and environmentally friendly fertiliser produced by farmers and sold at Nane Nane is biochar, made from the residues of crops including sorghum and groundnuts.

Quality Declared Seeds

In a move to improve the seed bank and ensure that farmers have access to improved seeds at an affordable price locally, Farm Africa supports farmers to produce Quality Declared Seeds for crops including sorghum.  We provide selected farmers with initial seeds, training on producing seeds, and support to get the seeds inspected and certified by the Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI).

Once certified, the seeds command a higher price than selling sorghum as food, meaning higher incomes for the seed producers as well as better availability of seeds for other local farmers.

Beekeeping

Beekeeping is a win-win for farmers and the environment. The pollination of plants helps to improve biodiversity, increase crop yields and encourage local communities to protect forests.  Farmers supported by Farm Africa were able to demonstrate its business potential too by making sales of high-quality honey produced by the bees.

Regina Alfred with honey produced by a bee keeping group supported by Farm Africa in Babati, Tanzania.

The innovations that Farm Africa demonstrated are effective approaches that we implement in our Climate-smart agriculture and income diversification project (funded by the Medicor Foundation), Farm to Market Alliance project (funded by the World Food Programme) and NOURISH project (implemented by SNV and Farm Africa with funding from Norad).