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Opportunity Abounds in Tanzania!

TTFF’s East Africa representative, Mr. Kamya Musigire, who leads our successful Uganda project, went on a reconnaissance mission to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar in Tanzania.

Zanzibar is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the African mainland. It consists of many small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. Kamya was in Unguja on this trip. However, he made many Pemba connections as well.

Mr. Musigire’s initial objective was to identify farmers from whom he can collect roots to use for propagating breadfruit trees in Uganda. (You may recall that he learned to do that during our trip to Jamaica earlier this year.)

Kamya Musigire (2nd from right) made many connections, including the Director General of Zanzibar Agricultural Research Institute (center.)
Kamya introduced porridge made from breadfruit flour. It was a huge hit!

Kamya soon discovered that much of the breadfruit is going to waste and the trees are hardly maintained. Breadfruit flour was an unknown entity to nearly everyone he met. The fruit is not being preserved. Rather, it is prepared fresh by boiling it.

Mr. Musigire gave breadfruit flour from Jamaica to the Director General of the Zanzibar Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI), Dr. Mohammed Dhamir. Kamya introduced him and about 20 others to breadfruit porridge. After preparing it with local spices, sugar and milk, they ate every bite!

Kamya explaining root propagation

Kamya had extensive discussions with senior researchers at ZARI. He also met with Ali Said Juma of Community Forests Pemba, representatives of Zanzibar Botanical Garden, and Jamaican consulate Betty Delfosse, a restauranteur. He encountered many farmers who gave him important information as well.

Women Against Poverty (WAP), a Tanzania mainland group that TTFF has worked with for years, was also on the agenda. Kamya and Shabani Juma Tindwa, a tree farmer and entrepreneur, held a training session on breadfruit propagation with WAP.

Huge breadfruit trees like this one need to be maintained. There is work to be done!

Shabani accompanied Kamya on the entire trip. We are excited for him to be part of the bountiful opportunities in which TTFF can engage in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.

Some opportunities with breadfruit include:

  1. Training on pruning, thinning, and care to improve crop productivity
  2. Arranging small factories and training on flour processing for preservation to minimize post-harvest losses
  3. Introducing new ways of cooking breadfruit, both fresh and with flour
  4. Obtaining roots for propagation in other parts of East Africa
  5. Identifying a Green Zone for planting more trees in Tanzania
  6. Setting up a model propagation nursery
  7. Contributing to research studies in: nutrition, silviculture, mixed-cropping, small businesses, innovative recipes, and production capacity of existing orchards
Kamya and Shabani speaking with Women Against Poverty

Thanks to Kamya and Shabani, we have the contacts we need to move forward in this country with our quest to provide food and economic security, as well as an improved environment.

We can only fulfill our mission with like-minded partner organization and dedicated leaders on the ground. Thank you to our new friends in Tanzania. And thank you to our steadfast supporters!

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