Zowasel Expands Its Regenerative Agriculture Program to Transform Tanzania’s Sorghum Value Chain.
As part of its ambitious 2035 Global Value Chain Transformation Strategy, Zowasel is redefining the future of sustainable agriculture in Africa. Empowering organized cooperatives, startups, and agribusinesses with cutting-edge technology, alternative finance options, and guarantee markets in driving innovation and sustainable growth across the agricultural value chain.
Empowering Through Core Strengths
At the heart of Zowasel’s strategy lies a focused commitment to its core strengths: technology, finance, and market facilitation. Leveraging these solutions, the company supports sustainable growth and fosters innovation, setting the stage for a more resilient, inclusive, and prosperous agricultural future across the continent.
A Closer Look The Tanzania Initiative
In its newest market, Tanzania, Zowasel is partnering with the Nguruka Development Agency to drive the transition to sustainable agriculture and revolutionize the sorghum value chain. Although Tanzania is recognized as East Africa’s largest sorghum producer, yields have stagnated over the past 15 years — averaging only one metric ton per hectare compared to Nigeria’s 2.5 MT/Ha.
Smallholder farmers who cultivate affordable local sorghum varieties face persistent challenges. These include climate change impacts, low productivity, post-harvest losses, limited mechanization, and restricted access to credit and markets.
Addressing Challenges with Regenerative Agriculture
Zowasel is tackling these challenges through a comprehensive regenerative agriculture program to transition farming from a carbon source to a carbon sink. The program equips Tanzanian farmers with:
Advanced Technology & Best Practices: Access zowasel technology and training on best farming techniques.
Alternative Finance: Financial solutions that enable access to better inputs and resources.
Guaranteed Market Access: A reliable platform for commodity trading that reduces risk and secures better incomes for farmers.
Vyone Ming’ate, Zowasel’s East Africa Regional Director, underscores the initiative’s transformative potential: “Our goal is to triple farmers’ yield per hectare, increase their income, and generate 8,000 direct and indirect jobs — especially for women and youth. This initiative will enhance productivity, drive sustainability, and create significant economic opportunities across the value chain, securing a brighter future for Tanzania’s agricultural sector.”
Program Phases and Impact
Phase 1: Capacity Building & Awareness: Zowasel has launched the initiative by providing financing and technology support to the Nguruka Development Agency. This phase focuses on educating and sensitizing over 2,500 sorghum farmers in the Singida and Tabora regions. A key objective is to promote gender inclusion, ensuring that at least 40% of participants are female and that farmers aged 20 to 60 are actively engaged.
Phase 2: Input Support & Agronomic Services
Improved seed varieties have been distributed as in-kind loans, which farmers repay by trading harvested sorghum on the Zowasel Marketplace. Extension officers are deployed throughout the growing season — from pre-season to post-harvest — to provide essential agronomic services and guide the transition to sustainable practices.
Phase 3: Market Access & Income Security
The final phase guarantees farmers benefit from secure markets for their sorghum at harvest. By reducing market risks and ensuring stable incomes, this component encourages broader adoption of regenerative agriculture practices.
Building Partnerships for a Sustainable Future
Fostering strategic partnerships and collaboration is central to the Value Chain Development program. By supporting implementation partners like the Nguruka Development Agency and its extension officers, Zowasel extends its reach to remote communities. This initiative helps smallholder farmers boost productivity, ensure sustainability, and improve their livelihoods. It aligns seamlessly with Zowasel’s 2035 vision to drive food security, promote financial independence, and build resilient global food systems.
Moreover, deploying the company’s Crop Pilot’s digital Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (dMRV) technology allows Zowasel corporate and multinational crop buyers to monitor and optimize supply chain footprints to ensure transparency and sustainable practices throughout the value chain.
Join the Transformation
Zowasel’s Tanzania initiative is more than just an agricultural program — it is a transformative movement toward sustainable development. By integrating innovative technology, alternative financing, and market guarantee mechanisms, Zowasel is paving the way for a brighter, more inclusive future for Africa’s agricultural communities.
Emmanuel Mapiagano, the Program Manager for Zowasel Tanzania, emphasizes that regenerative agriculture programs are essential for transforming Tanzania’s food systems in light of the increasing challenges posed by climate change.
Central to our strategy for redefining agriculture in Africa is the empowerment of our implementation partners, which include startups, organized cooperatives, and agribusinesses. As we approach 2035, initiatives like these will be pivotal in reshaping global food systems, empowering farmers, and driving sustainable growth. Join us on this transformative journey and help create a brighter future for agriculture in Africa.
For any inquiries or partnerships, please get in touch with us at [email protected] or visit www.zowasel.com