Free Farmers from Poverty & Educate their Children

Over 100 stakeholders, including farmers, trainers, researchers, and government officials, attended Fair Planet's Open Day at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Morogoro, Tanzania.

In her address at the research and demonstration field, the Acting Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries Officer of the district, Ms. Blandina Marijani, commended the exceptional work achieved through the project. “We extend our gratitude to SUA and Fair Planet for their remarkable contributions to our district. Through their efforts, extension services have been provided across eight wards and 11 villages, with demonstration fields strategically located along major roads. These fields not only serve as excellent learning tools but also ensure visibility and accessibility for farmers,” stated Ms. Marijani.

Fair Planet’s Project Coordinator, Ms. Rinat Kaplan, outlined the initiative’s two primary pillars: research and knowledge dissemination. “The research component focuses on evaluating various crop varieties to determine those best suited to the region. The second pillar involves transferring this knowledge to farmers. Events such as today’s are crucial for fostering collaboration among stakeholders, enabling seed companies, extension officers, and farmers to share insights and address their respective needs,” Ms. Kaplan explained.

Following the speeches, participants toured the research and demonstration fields to observe the project’s activities and outcomes firsthand.

Fair Planet launched its operations in Tanzania in 2019 and has been active in Ethiopia for over eight years. The organization has established training centers in three agricultural zones, supporting 2,300 demonstration farms and engaging more than 75,000 smallholder farmers. Additionally, the initiative has benefitted from the contributions of over 160 volunteers.

The annual exhibition is Rwanda’s most important event focused on agriculture, where private companies, government bodies, and civil society organizations involved in agriculture showcase their achievements from the past year. Fair Planet set up a booth at the exhibition, where we presented our accomplishments in Rwanda. Given the exhibition’s proximity to our project site, we also organized daily tours to our research field.

At our booth, we displayed tomato and pepper seedlings produced in our nursery, potato tubers from our trial in Kinigi (northern Rwanda), and specially developed vegetable cultivation and plant protection guides tailored for Rwandan farmers. Throughout the week, hundreds of farmers visited our booth each day, asking questions, showing interest in the results, and even taking home cultivation guides. Additionally, agricultural students, farmers from distant regions, and representatives from various input supply companies visited the booth, exploring potential collaborations with our project.

Dozens of farmers participated in our daily field tours, where they received detailed explanations from our local team about the activities and results of the demonstration plots.

On August 7, 2024, we hosted an open day for our partners, attended by representatives from Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture, the International Seed Federation (ISF), seed companies' professionals and local distributors, university representatives, and farmer organizations. During the event, we presented the outcomes of the past year's activities, held discussions on future initiatives, and visited the project’s demonstration plots. The event was highly successful and greatly contributed to raising awareness of the critical role of seeds in ensuring food security in the developing world.

Links:

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• Some of our activities in Rwanda