Maranye Farm Project in Tanzania - water harvesting, weeds and need for help. June 16, 2011

MARANYE FARM POSITION - During this heavy rains season {February-June2011} Maranye farm have manage to harvesting more rains water than anytime in our  history of the farm.

I believe that Maranye project  is not a one man eye project

Ourfarm is located at Masanganya Village, Kibuta ward, Kisarawe District. http://travelingluck.com/Africa/Tanzania/Tanzania+%28general%29/_154728_Masanganya+Forest+Reserve.html#local_map

After   discovering that most, rural poor have access to some land for farming but frequently their fields are a collection of scattered plots of less than 1000 m2. Even if they had capital for purchasing irrigation and other agricultural inputs, the small plots they farm are not well suited for equipment and supplies available in the market. So the vast majority of small farms are dependent upon rain fed cropping with constant risk of drought wiping out most or all of their production. Small holder farmers often cannot produce enough food for the entire year under rain fed conditions. With control over water and access to markets is possible for these farmers to use their household labor and management skills to grow crops of higher value than cereals. With higher value and multiple cropping seasons under irrigated conditions, smallholders can generally increase their annual net income. However there is broad consensus on the need to improve water management and to invest in water for food as these are critical to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  The role of water in food and livelihood security is a major issue of concern in the context of continued environmental degradation and persistent poverty throughout the developing world.  Although there is considerable knowledge on the issue, an overarching picture on the water-food-livelihoods-environment nexus is missing, leaving uncertainties about where to invest in order to address both human and environmental water needs. 

The Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture Research (CAR)   made by Maranye Agro-processing Social Business is an innovative multi-institute process aimed at identifying existing knowledge of rain water harvesting and stimulating it thought on ways to manage water resources to continue meeting the needs of both humans and ecosystems.  The CAR of Maranye rain water harvesting critically evaluate  the benefits, costs, and impacts of the past 5 years of water development and challenges to water management currently facing communities of Masanganya village.  It assesses innovative solutions and explores consequences of potential investment and management decisions. The CAR of Maranye rain water harvesting is designed as a learning process, engaging networks of stakeholders to produce knowledge synthesis and   methodologies.  The main output of the CAR is an Assessment report, from practical doing that aims to guide investment and management decisions in the near future considering their impact over the next 5 years in order to enhance food and environmental security to support the achievement of the MDGs. 

Local actions in Eco-friendly agriculture practices and utilization of the rain water harvesting in Masanganya community, will open a debate and discussion on how water harvesting have been a key point on, agriculture, livelihoods and unveils challenge and potential options for investments  and environment.

 The local actions on Eco-friendly agriculture practice will be the illustrator of Eco- friendly agriculture practice in Maranye farm. Opening dialogue between peoples with different point of view about how water is managed in agriculture.

Maranye Agro-Processing Social Business is adopting the community supported agriculture (CSA) system. As such we work to create businesses that meet the needs of those around us and by doing so raise the living standards of our communities while also creating something of lasting value for ourselves, our employees, our communities and our nations.

What is (CSA)?

 Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between farmers and the local community, providing mutual benefits and reconnecting people to the land where their food is grown. However Maranye  agro Processing social business ltd.  Will  put more attention on  women. Women now make up the majority of the agricultural sector in developing countries, but recent evidence suggests that not only is their productivity constrained by a lack of appropriate skills training (Danida, 2004), but also that they are particularly vulnerable to a range of changes including economic and environmental changes (e.g. Aguilar, 2009). Equipping women on small farms with the skills to improve production and manage change is therefore an important step towards  securing livelihoods and reducing poverty.

As a three-rains season’s  old. Maranye Agro-processing social Business has done the following:

·         We have clear the Bush and uprooted all logs of 50acres size of the land.

·         Traditional methods of pineapples cultivation have been practice started with 120,000 seeds using rain fed method.

·         Soil testing in traditional method has been observed by planting different crops in the field. Hot chills, cucumbers, passion fruits, small beans, maize, sweet potatoes, pawpaw, tomatoes, green papers, eggplants all have produced a good result and convincible.

·         We opened two deep well in our village. The village had no water for four years before we joined the community.

·         We distribute free small beans seeds to the community after successfully harvesting, for the purpose of creating a commercial group production in our area for cash crops.

·         As masanganya P/School patron. We contribute exercise book, pencils, and crayons, to  pre-standard one pupils.  Clothes to the children affect by HIV, and those living in difficult conditions including Masanganya P/ school in  the Village.

·         We have constructed Bio-gas units which use animals dung as a demonstration stage, in collaboration with Changombe - Dar-Es-salaam VETA {Vocational Education Training Authority} students through their junior achievements Exhibition program.

·         We distribute exercise books, crayons and pencils to grade one students in our village.

·         We paid 20% as subsidizing money for village power tiller in our community for the benefit of all peoples in the village.

·         We offer practical training to the community members on how to grow small beans, spices, and other short term crops.

·         We have created job opportunity for more than 100 villagers temporal, and 15 permanent farm workers, most of them ex-charcoal business man/woman.

·         98 percent of the world's hungry live in developing countries;
(Source: FAO news release, 2010)

 There are 925 million undernourished people in the world today. That means one in nearly six people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to the health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

·         Aid agency Oxfam in its new report, Growing a Better Future, says the global food system is “ broken” and warns that we have entered “a new age of crisis where depletion of the earth’s natural resources and increasingly severe climate change impacts will create millions more hungry people.”