TANTRADE in partnership to execute product development initiative

TZ trade body secures partners to execute product development initiative

BY TIMOTHY KITUNDU

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – The Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TANTRADE) and partners has launched an initiative known as product development scheme under the slogan “From the Farm to the Dining Table” thereby building the capacity of 94 spice farmers from two Divisions in Morogoro rural more than 300km from Dar es Salaam.

The motive behind this scheme are the challenges revealed by TANTRADE that hinder the swift development of spice farmers due to the fact that the challenges hinder these farmers from having a strategic focus as a priority before producing their crop then seek for market especially domestic market before embarking to seek for foreign markets.

Mr. Edwin Rutageruka, TANTRADE Acting Director General told the East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam last week that the vision of the authority is to team up with other stakeholders and assist farmers and others engaged in trading to ensure that their products have more value and have standards including proper branding before they hit the market.

“This scheme is a widespread initiative that touches almost all crops and products that are available in Tanzania and these, in a nutshell are spices, honey and its products, textiles, seeds such a peanuts and sunflower, commercial crafts or handcrafts, and horticultures all of which TANTRADE envisages them to be engrossed in the domestic market through supermarkets and hotels,” he said.

Mr. Rutageruka said that to further address the challenges that were revealed during a needs’ assessment exercise, the trade body has entered into close collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Network of Farmer’s Association in Tanzania (MVIWATA), Morogoro District Council, Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) the Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO), the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

In her comments, Asha Malanga, TANTRADE Senior Trade Officer told this paper that categorically, the variety of spices that have been singled out for their pilot project in Morogoro rural region include black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves grown by farmers within two divisions namely Kinole and Tawa.

“Of the two divisions, we decided we decided to set up two centres namely Matombo and Mkuyuni of which we envisaged to conduct out capacity building initiatives with a main objective of attracting other farmers to join the scheme so that they may as well benefit from the value addition marketing strategy,” she said.

She said they developed a total of five technical training modules that were utilized in the capacity building scheme and these included; the concept of cash farming; the strategy of cash farming; the management of the procurement chain; the mode of managing cash farming; and the procedures of export plans.

“The concept of all these was aimed at empowering the spices farmers who in most cases has fallen victim to low prices that were prompted among others by poor road networks leading to sales points and the chipping in of middle men who were in most cases the price fixers hence farmers benefits from the proceeds were minimal,” she added.

Furthermore, in order to achieve the goals of this scheme, TANTRDE assigned four trade officers namely Asha Malanga, Gilbert Waigama, Leah Msagah and Kulutum Rashid to carry out a needs assessment survey, identify challenges and conduct capacity building to the farmers using the modeles developed and at finally implement a pilot project using demonstration farm methods to help farmers address the challenges thereon.

Gilbert Waigama, TANTRADE Trade Officer ((Branding) said that the need to collaborate with MVIWATA, TBS and SIDO was threefold: the mentioned have the expertise in proper packaging and also they had the proficiency in branding as well as the use of standards that were required to add value to the processed spices.

Speaking jointly on the challenges that needed be addressed, Asha Malanga and Gilbert Waigama said that one of the main challenge was the market structure that had been established by MVIWATA which were friendly to most cash crops such as bananas but not to spices that are also widely cultivated in the areas.

“We also noted that upon visiting the sales points of these areas, the prices of spices were either known nor clear and good examples of these are black pepper hence there arose a need to collaborate with other stakeholders namely local government, TBS, MVIWATA and SIDO to address this challenge,” they argued.

According to the dual, the other challenge identified was the presence of middlemen who stood between the farmers and the sales points hence act as “price fixers” that denied farmers of the right to benefit from the proceeds of their crops.

They also identified poor road networks and difficult accessibility as another major challenge. In almost all areas surveyed road accessibility is very poor, roads are rough and highly corrugated and there is a high risk for trucks to collect spices from these areas a factor that attributed to farmers to receive very low prices.

“The other challenge identified was the use of poor seeds coupled with limited extension services, and poor farming methods. In this aspect we had to work in close collaboration with SUA, and in terms of traceability, this core is entrusted to GS one,” they added.

 The Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TANTRADE) was established by the Tanzania Trade Development Authority Act No. 4 of 2009. Her establishment followed a repeal of the Act of Parliament No 15 of 1973 that had established the Board of Internal Trade (BIT)and the Act of Parliament No. 5 of 1978 that had established the Board of External Trade (BET) and.

TANTRADE is mandated among other things to implement the National Trade Policy, the National Export Development Strategy, the Trade Integration Strategy and the Agricultural Marketing Policy and other sectoral policies all which aim at developing and promoting Tanzania’s internal and external trade.

The mission and vision of the authority is to enhance Tanzania’s economic performance through development and promotion of goods and services and to have the rights products for trade fairs as per market requirements, for both local and foreign markets and to become a world class focal point centrally positioned to support national economic excellence through trade development.

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Tigo to connect Moshi to 4G LTE service

Moshi community now connected to 4G LTE service

BY TIMOTHY KITUNDU

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – In its quest to change the lifestyles of Tanzanians, last week Tigo announced plans to expand its 4G LTE service to Moshi (over 500km from Dar es Salaam) this month. The company first launched the service in Dar es Salaam early last year before spreading wings to four regions effectively making it the fastest and widest 4G network in Tanzania.

 Regarded as the best and the latest technology in the world’s telecommunication industry with seamless Internet access, 4G LTE technology is about five times faster than the 3G technology used by other operators in the Tanzanian market.

Speaking in an exclusively at Tigo offices in Moshi on the sidelines of the official launch of the annual Kilimanjaro Marathon, Tigo Corporate Communications Manager John Wanyancha said that the expansion of Tigo 4G was in line with the telecom’s commitment to give its customers world class services that enable them to lead a digital lifestyle.

“The plan to expand the Tigo to 4G to Moshi once again demonstrates not only Tigo’s leadership in delivering cutting edge technology and innovation in this market but our commitment to increase access to the Internet for as many Tanzanians as possible,” Wanyancha said and noted that the telecom company’s ultimate goal was to cover the entire country by the end of 2016.

Commenting on the Kilimanjaro Marathon of which Tigo is a co-sponsor, Wanyancha said that as a digital lifestyle company, Tigo was committed to supporting the young sportsmen and women in the country in order to help them achieve their live-long goals

Tigo has since last year been investing $120 million (Tsh.264 billion) annually on its network expansion and quality improvement by scaling up its 4G and 3G sites and fibre network as well as increasing the number of customer service outlets countrywide, summed up Wanyancha.  

Established in 1994, Tigo Tanzania is the leading innovative telecommunication company in the country, distinguished as a fully-fledged digital lifestyle brand. Offering a diverse product portfolio in voice, SMS, high-speed internet and mobile financial services, Tigo has pioneered innovations such as Facebook in Kiswahili, TigoPesa App for Android & iOS users.

Tigo is the biggest commercial brand of Millicom, an international company developing the digital lifestyle in 12 countries with commercial operations in Africa and Latin America and corporate offices in Europe and the USA. With the certain knowledge that only constant innovation will keep them on top, Millicom keeps creating greater shareholder value; applying their concept of “demand more” is how they do business and retain their position as digital lifestyle leaders in some of the most unique and challenging markets.

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ICT donation

Game reserve organization donates ICT equipment to District authority

BY TIMOTHY KITUNDU

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Singita Grumeti Reserves (SGR) and its sister organization, Grumeti Fund (GF) donated modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment to the Serengeti District Court in Mara Region (over 900km from Dar es Salaam) last week.

The donation which includes HP computer desk top, HP printer LaserJet, Sollatek UPSs, toner as well as rims of printing paper is expected to see the district court issuing judgment copies within one week of ruling. This will be a great improvement as this process previously took up to three months.

SGR and GF Relationship Manager Mr. Ami Seki said the donation was in response to a request made by district court October last year and is part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

“On behalf of Singita Grumeti Reserves and Grumeti Fund, I would like to hand over the ICT equipment which we believe will simplify the cores of Serengeti District Court) work.”  He said at a brief event held at the Serengeti District Court offices.

The Serengeti District Court Resident Magistrate Ismael Ngaile received the donation and promised that they will use the equipment to improve the court’s services.

“We are grateful for the assistance as it will increase efficiency and copies of verdicts will now be provided promptly,” the magistrate stated.

Speaking at the same occasion, Serengeti District Administrative Secretary (DAS) Mr. Cosmas Qamara hailed the Grumeti Fund and Singita Grumeti Reserves’ continued support towards the development of Serengeti district.

“I believe citizens will now start getting judgment copies within a week instead of three months. This is a milestone on justice delivery. This is not the first time we are getting assistance from Grumeti.  The Fund has made sizeable contributions in the region particularly in the education, health and water sectors,” Qamara said.

The event was also witnessed by Serengeti District Council Executive Director (DED) Ms Naomi Nnko and the District Council Chairman Mr. Juma Porini.

The top council officials also thanked the representatives of Grumeti Fund, and hailed their continuous efforts in supporting the community.

“Singita Grumeti Reserves is our valued partner, we appreciate their continued support and we call upon other investors to emulate,” the council Chairman said.

In 2013, SGR and GF spent more than Tsh.155 million ($ 70,455) to finance construction of a modern police station at Natta ward in Serengeti district.

In addition to spending millions of shillings in the provision of social services in about 22 villages of Serengeti and Bunda districts, Grumeti is also sponsoring 45 students by paying their tuition fees and other learning needs from the same villages each year.

SGR is a tourism company that operates several luxurious safari lodges in Western Serengeti. The lodges belong to Paul Tudor Jones, an American investor who has invested heavily in tourism and conservation sectors in Tanzania after falling in love with the great Serengeti eco-system.

The Grumeti Fund is a non- profit conservation and development organization which deals in conserving 350,000 acres of wildlife-rich concession area and community development support in Serengeti and Bunda districts.

The concession area being conserved by Grumeti Fund is an integral part of the Serengeti - Mara Ecosystem, the home of the great migration comprising more than 1.5 million wildebeests.

The presence of the American investor has greatly helped to reduce poaching incidents in western Serengeti, according to wildlife experts and local leaders.

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THE TRAINING FOLLOWED MY EXPECTATIONS

The training session was very useful and also very essential bearing in mind that journalism cannot be performed to its standards without the application of ICTs.
All the topics facilitated were interesting and marvelous. In regard to my expectations I can say that to a great extent they were met.
SUGGESTION: To improve the training I suggest that next time it should be much long for instance five days and that the venue should be outside Dar es Salaam - namely Morogoro. The venue should be well equipped with ICT equipment such as desk - top computers coupled with reliable, fast Internet service. 

RWANDA INTRODUCES WIFI FOR ALL

Smart Kigali

Rwanda introduces free Wi-Fi for very one to simplify business transactions

Kigali has been the first city in East Africa to introduce the use of Wi-Fi free wireless Internet in specific areas of the capital for all to make business transactions easier.

The service under the “Smart Kigali” initiative, joining the ranks of “digital cities” such as Toronto, Houston, Buenos Aires, Bangkok and Taipei.

This is a plastic card the size of a credit card with an embedded microchip that can be loaded with data used for telephone calling, electronic cash payments and other applications and then periodically refreshed for additional use.

The service can also be used to pay for parking at parking meters, to get on subways, trains, or buses, give hospitals or doctors personal data without filling out a form and to make small purchases at electronic stores on the web and to buy gasoline at a gasoline station.

Speaking at the launch of the service Philbert Nsengimana, Minister for ICT reassured the public that the project is sustainable because it comes with a business model that the government has plans to ensure more Rwandans have access to smart devices to tap into the opportunity.

The government has in the past launched projects in the ICT sector that crumbled before take-off because of lack of sustainability Rwanda did not have the critical mass of Internet users to make the projects viable.

But according to RDB reports, in the past five years, Rwanda has registered one of the highest Internet user growth rates in Africa with 8,900 per cent compared with the continent’s growth rate of 2,450 per cent and the world average rate of 444 per cent.

In 2010, more than 38.9 per cent of Rwanda’s public sector (ministries, agencies, provinces and districts) and 34.5 per cent of the private sector had a web presence. According to government statistics, there are over 3.1 million mobile subscribers, representing 32 per cent penetration of mobile usage.

The country’s Vision 2020 hopes to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country and transition from an agrarian economy into an information-rich, knowledge-based society by 2020.

Mr. Nsengimana argues that Smart Kigali is not a project to benefit only the elite who can afford smart gadgets but will extend to the majority of Rwandans after the government launched Vizio, a programme that will see it negotiate with manufacturers and banks to offer smart gadgets to low income citizens.

To improve financial services, the Electronic Payments Systems has been enhanced to promote efficient use of existing payments systems such as ATM’s VISA cards and others that facilitate electronic transactions.

All these services will position Kigali not only as a clean city but also a connected and smart city.

ENDS.