Visiting Save Safe Food in Tanzania

In September 2021, the DMDP Secretariat visited the project “Save Safe Food” in Tanzania, which works to reduce post-harvest losses in the maize value chain. The project has been training farmers and value chain stakeholders in good post-harvest practices and has promoted adoption of tarpaulins for drying maize and hermetic bags to store maize in a safer manner.

Farmers have benefitted significantly from using the hermetic bags: Weight losses during storage have reduced considerably; supply for household consumption is healthier as farmers do not need to apply chemicals to preserve the maize; and maize can be stored longer and be sold in the market at more opportune times. A market for the hermetic bags and tarpaulins has been created. The demand for bags has taken off to a level where the main challenge in the 2021 harvest season has actually been an insufficient supply of bags. The commercial partners see the opportunities and are ready to expand business in 2022.

The project is implemented in a collaboration between Helvetas, AtoZ Textile Mills and Pee Pee Tanzania Limited. The DMDP Secretariat visited the AtoZ Textile Mills’ factories in Arusha, Hub Agro-dealers in Mpanda and met with vendors and farmer groups in Katavi and Rukwa regions. Thank you to all the partners for a very inspiring visit.