Mr. Mwampshi's Impact
It’s a 40 minute drive off the main road up the winding path that flows through the hills of post-harvest farmlands,and rolling fields that stretch past the twilight horizon. The occasional motorcycle zips by clusters of people walking, children playing, and brick homes that freckle the road’s peripheries. Towards the top of the mountain the road narrows through an enclave of tightly packed trees before opening to one of the high peaks in the village of Iyula. Here, in a yard that looks out over the Mbozi district of Songwe, Tanzania, a group of farmers are huddled around Joseph Mwampashi as he explains the benefits of using PICS bags for post-harvest storage.
While it may seem small, this moment is significant because It exemplifies so much of what the NAFAKA project,an important component in USAID’s Feed The Future initiative, has been striving towards. Through NAFAKA, Mr. Mwampashi has become a Village-Based Agricultural Advisor (VBAA). He’s received training on good agricultural practices (GAP) which ranges from techniques in seed planting, to post-crop harvesting, to record keeping. He’s gained extensive knowledge of fertilizer and pesticide use, earned three certifications to become a rural agro-dealer,and established relationships with agro-input companies that have enabled him to sell high quality agro-products to rural villages that previously lacked access (Since 2017, he’s sold $121,915.78 USD worth of seeds, fertilizers, and crop protectants/pesticides).
Through NAFAKA’s mechanization grant,Mr. Mwampashi received a maize shelling machine that significantly reduces shelling time and improves grain quality (a services he’s provided to 321 farmers) and a tablet he uses to communicate and maintain relationships with agro-dealers. He also received a motorcycle, reducing the time he previously spent walking or bicycling (up to 18km daily) to provide GAP training services. Without this motorcycle, it would have been difficult and costly for Mr. Mwampashi to travel the 30km from his village in Mlowo to the mountain peak in Iyula, to demonstrate how to use a PICS bag.
There’s a purposeful focus in Mr.Mwampashi gaze when he talks to the group of Iyula farmers. He’s not simply divulging information he’s acquired from NAFAKA training, he’s looking to see how it lands, like a teacher gauging their students’ comprehension. Mr. Mwampashi wants to be able to help more people and says “I wish NAFAKA could have another fund, because there are people who come from over 80km away seeking my help and I wish NAFAKA could help the people in those regions.” Because of this, Mr. Mwampashi has started a task force of 12 farmers he’s teaching who are able to provide agro-educational services when he cannot. He says “I’m very proud to be able to help other villages and to create a task force of farmers who can learn and earn.” Mr. Mwampashi also plans on starting an extension task force in villages farther away so the skills he’s gained through NAFAKA can help more people.
To date, Mr. Mwampashi has trained 956 people. If there were ever any questions on the sustainability of VBAA’s and their ability to carry on, and pass on the education and agricultural practices learned from NAFAKA, or whether a VBAA could be a lasting resource and benefit to their surrounding community, then Mr. Mwampashi is the answer.
