What started as a pilot to encourage Lumolumo rural women and girls in Msalala, Shinyanga region to engage in horticulture farming has yielded huge dividends. Lumolumo women group chairperson Ms. Angelina Jackson Lutego says that her cluster in Msalala district, Shinyanga region with just a little over two acres under passion fruits are looking forward to harvest 78.4 metric tonnes by the end of the year, earning them a cool Sh 78.4 million. “Our farm has a total of 1,400 passion trees and with the combined yielding capacity of 1.9 metric tons per week. Going by the harvesting season of 40 weeks per year, we are going to harvest 78.4 metric tones. This means we will cash in Sh 78.4 million, if the prevailing price of Sh 1,000 per kg, is anything to go by” Ms Lutego clarifies. “The project has contributed largely to improving our socio- economic status. We are now earning millions of shillings from zero income enabling us to provide basic needs for our families, including taking our children to schools to secure their future.” confesses Ms. Lutego. The group has also been able to replicate the model to 14 other women groups and 30 individuals within the Shinyanga region who are now engaging in horticulture cultivation, a huge multiplier effect bringing in a critical mass of small-scale farmers. The “Realizing Gender Equality through Empowering Women and Adolescent Girls project”, executed by TAHA in collaboration with UN Women, Ikungi and Msalala District Councils has seen tremendous productivity and income upsurge for women and girls, thanks to extensive adoption of climate-smart agricultural technologies, best practices, finance and market access.
