Livestock and Learning

Captain Stivina Sinana from The Salvation Army’s Tanzania Territory shares how rural communities in Tanzania are working together through livestock banking to grow their incomes and overcome food insecurity.

In Tanzania, an overwhelmingly rural country, livestock keeping is invaluable in ensuring families reach the required dietary diversity. However, this practice has traditionally been looked down on as a second-class way of life. Poverty is at its highest among agricultural households, and small-scale farmers face a myriad challenges in overcoming material poverty. To meet the increasing demand for animal protein and to boost rural incomes, investment in sustainable livestock feeds and the improvement of livestock quality is essential.

In 2019, The Salvation Army in Tanzania commissioned a situational analysis on the livestock value chain in Ilembo, an administrative ward in the Mbeya rural district of Tanzania. Analysis found that livestock production in Ilembo is limited for a variety of reasons including a lack of knowledge on livestock management, inadequate livestock market systems, low-quality animal feeds, prevalence of diseases and pests, limited veterinary services and a lack of supportive financial institutions. As a result, households practising indigenous livestock production had minimal income and were thus not able to meet the basic needs of their families, and childhood malnutrition was common.

In consultation and partnership with rural communities in Ilembo, The Salvation Army established a livestock banking and village savings and loans project to address these challenges. The project was established to support small-scale farmers to overcome the barriers to effective livestock production.

Most households that the project is engaged with keep traditional local breeds which are of low quality and do not typically fetch a good price when sold. Therefore, working primarily with female-led households, the project provides higher-quality species to enhance the potential of the local breeds and trains farmers in improved livestock management techniques. There is evidence to show that the breeding of goats, pigs and poultry not only contributes significantly to improving food and nutrition security, but also to household incomes and national economic growth in Tanzania.

As part of the project, farmers worked together to form Village Livestock Groups (VLG) through which they each receive an improved breed of animal, such as a goat, pig or poultry, and ensure others benefit through the ‘pass on, pass back’ model – essentially, you return one or more of your animal’s litter back to the group to be passed on to another member.

These groups then evolved into village savings and loans association (VSLA) groups which were supported with start-up materials including record-keeping books, calculators, stationery and other necessary items and training. In a VSLA group, members regularly contribute a small amount of money to build up a communal fund. Members can then take a loan from this fund to start or grow their business, or pay for costs such as school fees or healthcare. The loan is then repaid with a small amount of interest which continues to grow the collective fund.

Community engagement and ownership of this project is essential for its success. Taking learnings from previous projects in the territory, consultation meetings with community members and their local leaders have helped to shape the project design. Furthermore, support from agricultural and veterinary officers helped community members with identifying issues relating to their current agricultural and livestockkeeping methods. This subsequently led to the core components of the project design being centred around modern and sustainable farming and livestock-keeping practices.

Experience from both the agricultural and veterinary officers, as well as previous projects implemented across the Tanzania Territory, has demonstrated that project designs such as this are generally the most effective way of improving livelihoods, food security and income generation for smallholder farmers, while creating a positive impact on the environment.

At the outset of the project, female participation in community forums or meetings required the permission of their male counterparts. Further, women were denied the right to own property, land or livestock and did not have access to financial resources within their households. This project, therefore, intentionally set out to ensure that at least 60 per cent of participants were women, with the aim of enhancing their economic empowerment.

Additionally, throughout the project implementation, women were provided with opportunities to take up leadership positions within the committees to demonstrate to men that that they too can be leaders within their respective communities. In relation to this, the inclusion of the VSLA groups has proven to be superior methodology for the empowerment of women, providing them with opportunities for leadership and income generation.

One of the women who has been part of the project is Devotha. She is 24 years old and lives with her parents and her child in Ilembo.

Like many of her neighbours, Devotha and her family were facing economic hardship as they were dependent on subsistence farming on their small plot of land. They had four chickens and as part of the project they received a pig.

Devotha also joined the VSLA group in her community through which she took a loan to purchase another pig. By breeding piglets, she has been able to improve the nutritional value in her family’s diet and has livestock to sell for additional income. As well as the financial improvement the group has brought to her life, Devotha has also enjoyed the social element of meeting together each week.

To ensure that the small-scale livestock farmers continue benefiting, Livestock Management Committees have been established and the members trained to provide farmer

support as well as supervision in each community. Training in how to integrate growing of feeder grasses and feeder shrubs alongside other crops has helped to improve the health of farm soils as well as sustainably provide nutritious feed for livestock. The farmers have also been taught how to use the livestock droppings to make manure for their vegetable gardens, thereby further improving their nutritional status.

To date, this project has reached 114 households, and it is anticipated that a further 126 households will participate. The formation of VSLA groups will be encouraged, as this has proved a successful means of building trust among community members as well as providing opportunities for women in leadership development. All 250 of the participating households will be supported to increase their knowledge in production of vegetables and fruits to improve their nutritional dietary intake.

By Captain Stivina Sinana