Tanzanian media coverage inspires sesame farmers
13 May 2014
Farmers in Babati district are turning to sesame after learning of Farm Africa's work in teaching smallholders how to make the crop climate-tolerant and profitable. Farm Africa has been working with sesame farmers in Tanzania’s Babati district since 2010 – and our successes since then have been widely reported in local media.
Isack Murge, who lives around 145km from Babati town, was inspired to start growing sesame when he read a newspaper article about Farm Africa’s work which reported that “living standards of farmers in Mbugwe division have improved due to sesame farming”. And he’s been getting tips and information on how to cultivate his precious crop from a radio programme, featuring Farm Africa’s sesame experts, aired in his local area. But he was still concerned about pests and diseases in his crop and approached Farm Africa’s renowned Crops Officer, Tumaini Elibariki, for help. Tumaini has been teaching Isack and his fellow farmers about pest control and showing them techniques that will help increase the size of their harvests.
And in Endadosh village Farm Africa organised a field day where members of the wider community could learn all about how to be successful sesame farmers. The Manyara Region Agriculture Advisor was the guest of honour and just one of many attendees. Alongside the more technical information sharing, young musicians provided entertainment in the form of songs about sesame farming. You can read all about the day in the Tanzanian online newspaper, Pesa Times.
With sesame farming in Babati district booming, work is underway to link farmers to lucrative export markets. Farm Africa has also provided ten villages with presses that can be used by the farmers to add value to their sesame by turning it into oil.
