Maswa DC is one of the districts of Simiyu region which is the second poorest region in Tanzania1 and is among those regions faced with severe malnutrition and anemia.
The project is aimed at encouraging and supporting local small holder farmers to shift into a more profitable Orange Flashed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP) farming and away from their existing low productive subsistence farming. Due to limited market outreach, and immediately after harvesting, farmers used to sell to passing traders for a low price, a practice that continued their cycle of poverty.
UNCDF invested $USD $100,000 to cover the cost of connecting the factory to the national grid electricity; procuring high capacity solar drying machines; working capital to operationalize the business; and establishment of a project company with shareholding given to the local government & the local community, a more financially and operationally sustainable arrangement.
