Agriculture plays an important role in the economy of Iringa District. The sector employs about 73% of the economically active population and generates nearly 99% of the GDP in rural Iringa.
Women provide 70-80% of the agricultural labor force in the district and produce over 80% of the staple foods. However, the social norms and policy environment do not allow women to reap economic benefits from these activities.
BKF's objectives are to :
1/optimizing women's autonomy through the transmission of know-how
Cultural practices also marginalize women in terms of decision-making, access and use of resources such as water and land. They are unable to make major decisions about the use of productive resources due to lack of financial resources, absence of markets, and poor access to reliable information about practices. BKF wants to help change this unfavorable context for women by employing them as a priority in the agricultural team: By paying them and providing them with know-how on ecological agricultural practices, BKF pursues its objective of enabling women to become more autonomous. BKF thus contributes to family stability through the material independence of women who are sometimes marginalized because of the oppression and violence they suffer.
2/diversify crops and promote local production and consumption
To this end, BKF has financed the acquisition of 10 plots of farmland totaling 10 acres, or 4 hectares of usable land, in the Kalenga neighborhood located in the rural district of Iringa. A team of permanent farm workers is working on these plots, which are planted with banana and taro (a root related to the sweet potato).
BKF has also acquired 20 acres of land (8 hectares) for avocado farming to enable the organization to obtain income from the sale of the fruit to finance its missions.
The choice of these crops was made according to and for the following reasons :
3/Maintain ecological practices adapted to the crops
The agri-food practices used by BKF must also contribute to the preservation of natural resources by limiting environmental impacts and biodiversity by respecting natural environments and the different forms of life.
At present, BKF does not use any chemical fertilizers but only organic fertilizers, liquid manure, which is a mixture of animal waste and water. It has the advantage of being rapidly assimilated by plants so that there is no risk to the environment if there is too much. The nitrogen it contains in organic and ammoniacal form is quickly assimilated by the plant.
Thus, by these agricultural practices of exploitation coupled with a short circuit of distribution (farmers and local population, markets...), BKF favors the quality and the freshness of the produced food without additional cost added to the selling price.
4/Transmit these practices to the surrounding populations
BKF's agricultural team wishes to pass on its know-how, both to the young women it wishes to recruit in order to contribute to their empowerment, but also to local farmers so that they can increase their own productivity and, consequently, reduce their purchases of foodstuffs that are sensitive to the vagaries of the markets. Ultimately, this will increase agricultural production and improve the villagers' standard of living.
5/Training as a team to develop improved practices based on a common culture
The practices used by BKF are based on the know-how and experience of our team of local farmers, who are concerned with preserving natural resources and the interests of the villagers around a virtuous system that integrates: agronomic methods that respect the environment, a reduction in the price of food, the production of healthy food produced with respect for people, biodiversity and the rhythm of nature.
BKF thus participates in the fight against pollution and the risks of industrial agriculture. It promotes responsible and shared management of common goods.
The agricultural team benefited from a 5-day training in agroecology with SAT, Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania, focusing on the use of improved techniques of production and use of biofertilizers and bio-pesticides with locally available and low-cost materials. The training taught them the processes and value of bio-fertility regeneration for the sustainable production of healthy food that is affordable for consumers and profitable for farmers.
The BKF team is committed to obtain organic certification in the future.
This activity is part of BKF's "agricultural-fish farming" cluster, which has a dual objective :
