SOKOINE UNIVESITY OF AGRICULTURE

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES INSTITUTE (DSI)

DEGREE PROGRAMMES: BACHELOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT.

COURSE NAME: PUBLIC POLICY

COURSE CODE: RD 205

NAME REGISTRATION NO SIGNATURE

MGIMBA, FEDRICK G. BRD/D/2013/0051
JOHN PAUL RAMADHAN BRD/D/2013/0045
KUZENZA, Philipo BRD/E/2013/0116
MOHAMED, RAJABU BRD/E/2013/0098
BULENGA, JOSEPH SELEMAN BRD/D/2013/0038
SIMON, SIMON BRD/D/2013/0024
OBEGE, ELVIS RAYMOND BRD/D/2013/0022
ZEMBULA, EDNA BRD/D/2013/0053

INSTRUCTOR: Mr PIUS J.

Submission date: 27 May 2015

Qn.2 MVIWATA ORGANIZATION

 MTANDAO WA VIKUNDI VYA WAKULIMA TANZANIA
(MVIWATA)
Mtandao waVikundi vyaWakulima Tanzania (MVIWATA) is an organization of farmers which
unites small holder farmers in order to have a common voice in defending economic, social,
cultural and political interests of smallholder farmers under the chairperson Mr. Habibu
Simbamkuti. It is the acronym for the National Network of Small-Scale Farmers Groups in
Tanzania. MVIWATA was founded in 1993, by 22 innovative farmers from Morogoro, Iringa,
Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, Rukwa and Dodoma regions for the purpose of creating a farmer-to-farmer
exchange forum. Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) through its Strengthening
Communication Project (SUA-SCOM) guided the initial process in the formation of MVIWATA.
 The organization Goal:
To unite smallholder farmers (including all small producers whose livelihood depend on
land such as pastoralists and fisher folk) in order to defend their interests and address the
challenges of farmers with one voice
 The organization Mission:
To strengthen farmers’ groups and networks, facilitate communication and learning
through exchange visits among farmers for the purpose of defending the interests of small
scale farmers.
 The organization Vision:
To become a strong farmers’ organization that will guarantee small-scale farmers
participation and representation in socio-economic and policy dialogue process at various
levels through learning, initiating, implementing and monitoring social and economic
development processes.

MVIWATA organization was operating without policy but it has strategic plan with
interval of five years.
1. The five years Strategic Plan of MVIWATA (2010 – 2014)
 Organizing farmers into strong groups and networks to have common voice to
advocate for their interests;
 Strengthening lobbying and advocacy capacity of farmers to influence policy process;
 Empowering farmers economically through initiatives such as saving and credit
(microfinance), market linkage, and development of entrepreneurship skills;
 Building capacity of MVIWATA members, leaders and staff on cross cutting issues
(HIV/AIDS, gender and climate change); and
 Strengthening institutional development of MVIWATA
 2. Next strategic plan 2015 – 2019 as a way of preparation of the new strategic plan
two steps are expected;
 First to conduct an evaluation of the current strategic plan and
 Secondly to develop the strategic plan its self.

Both the evaluation of the current strategic plan and development of the new one are expected to
be led by an external consultant. The strategic plan is expected to be used as from 2015 or
beginning of 2016.

MVIWATA POLICY SUGGESTED

PURPOSE OF THE POLICY AND SCOPE

 This policy is intended to empower small holder farmers economically and socially
through capacity building and undertake lobbying and advocacy especially by
strengthening their groups and network, facilitating communication and learning so that
they are capable of defending their interests.
 To advocate for strong organizations of smallholder farmers, the existence of reliable
markets for their farm produce, sustainable rural financial services and technical
assistance and strong representation of the farmers at all levels.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
 MVIWATA was formed to address challenges facing smallholder farmers. The challenges
like lack of a strong organization of small scale farmers in the country, exclusion of small
scale farmers from decision making process on matters that touch the welfare of small
scale farmers and under-representation or complete lack of representation of small scale
farmers in decision making bodies, low prices of agricultural produce, unreliable markets
and lack of access to financial services. To address these challenges, MVIWATA has been
implementing various interventions focusing on lobbying and advocacy and economic
empowerment of small-scale farmers.
POLICY STATEMENT
Policy statement (1). Relying on local farmers’ groups and networks
One of MVIWATA’s key institutional innovations involves forming a network of farmers and
groups in order to create for a form communication, information exchange and sharing
experiences.
Strategies for implementation
 Through using of bottom-up participatory approach in which farmers fully participate in
designing and implementing innovative technologies and approaches for enhancing
agricultural productivity. The methods to use include community meetings and open
group discussions to reflect on the situation of farmers, reveal their challenges, inventory
farmers’ own capabilities, identify constraints and decide on actions that can be taken.
 Building up farmers’ capacities to recognize their own capabilities and identify solutions
within their own means. In this way, MVIWATA strengthens local farmers’ groups and
networks by motivating self-reliance attitudes.
 Training farmers on how to join together in order to be in a better position to decide
which development program they themselves can initiate in the fight against rural
poverty. The organization establishes farmers’ groups and networks to help farmers solve
socioeconomic problems without waiting for conditioned grants or gifts from donors.

Policy statement (2). Valuing indigenous knowledge and adoption of improved practices
MVIWATA also emphasizes attitude and perception changes that aim to improve the value of
farmers’ indigenous technical knowledge and take advantage of such knowledge in adapting new
technologies.
Strategies for implementation
 Through encouraging formal research to improve indigenous knowledge already
practiced by farmers in order to make agriculture more rewarding. In this context,
developing new products and processes through innovation focuses on the needs of the
clients, placing particular emphasis on user participation in decision-making and
evaluation of innovative technologies. Some agricultural innovations that have recently
been adopted by MVIWATA farmers’ groups include the replacement of conventional
cultivation systems involving frequent ploughing and tillage to ‘conservation agriculture’.
For example on the slopes of the Uluguru Mountain in the Morogoro Region, farmers
have adopted improved soil conservation measures (such as terracing and contour bund
farming, row cropping across the slope and agro-forestry practices), as well as zero and
 rotational grazing. They have also introduced new crops such as tomatoes, Irish potatoes,
and sunflowers, and have dug water distribution canals for better management of
irrigated agriculture.

Policy statement (3). Dissemination of farmers’ knowledge and experiences

MVIWATA plays an important role in facilitating the exchange of farmers’ practical and
successful experiences, including the dissemination of farmers’ best practices through written
materials, radio programmes and newsletters; this includes work on technologies as well as on
the management of dynamic groups.
Strategies for implementation
 Through the use of its own radio program called ‘Ijue Mviwata’ and various television
programmes, Booklets that document best practices, A quarterly newsletter on technology
dissemination ‘Pambazuko sauti ya wakulima’;
 Training workshops that are held regularly to train farmers’ leaders and trainers. Local
network meetings to discuss new information useful to farmers; and
 Exchange visits during which farmers share their knowledge and experiences. These
study tours expose farmers to different environments and sources of knowledge, while
also allowing them to learn new technologies through interaction with other farmers who
already practice these methods.

ECONOMIC SITUATION AND PRODUCTION OF MVIWATA

 MVIWATA has managed to increase production of different crops like maize and rice.
This has been achieved through provision of training on crops, husbandry, especially in
maize and rice the outcome is increased yield of maize production, rise from an average
of 3.0 tons per hectare to about 8.0 tons per hectare and increased rice production from
3.9 tons per hectare to 9.0 tons per hectare amongst farmers who participated in this
initiative.
 Empowerment of Small- scale farmers’ networks in regional, district, ward and village
level.
 Improved credit access and living standard of small-scale farmers with rural microfinance
institutions, processing, marketing and entrepreneurship. A total of six markets under
 farmers’ supervision have been constructed in Morogoro, Dodoma, Tanga and Iringa
regions.
 Improved food security situation of farmers as the success of cereal banks, processing
and storage modernized techniques.
 Recognition of farmers who in some areas have been involved in decision making organs
such as Regional Advisory Board and ward development committee, as the sign of
recognition of MVIWATA.

ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

MVIWATA is organized into three levels as follows,

1. National level:

Comprises of all members of the network as represented by the Annual General

Meeting (AGM), the Council, the Board of Directors and the management team. The
Board of Directors and the Management has the responsibilities of overseeing that the
overall mission and strategic orientations of the network are adhered to and that
services are provided to members. They have further roles of facilitating technical
support as well mobilizing resources. The Board of Directors is composed of 9
elected members and headed by the Chairperson. The Council is composed of the
board members and leaders of the middle level networks. Management team is
composed of staff with various disciplines and headed by the Executive Director.

2. Middle level:

Composed of farmers’ networks at regional or district level. It has a Steering Committee

and has the responsibility of mobilizing members in its area. Where a management of
middle level network exists, it has the responsibilities of providing technical support to
member and resource mobilization. Middle level networks liaise with the national level
and local networks.

3. Local networks:
 These are farmers groups organized in networks at village and ward levels and are the
building blocks of the middle level and national networks.

THE FOLLOWING ARE ACTIVITIES OF MVIWATA

1. Facilitating organization of small-scale farmers into groups, local and middle networks to
form a sound and strong national farmers’ organ
2. Lobbying and advocacy for issues of interests to the small scale farmers and ensure
representation of farmers’ views in the policies that affect them.
3. Capacity building of small-scale farmers on leadership, economic skills such as
marketing, savings and credits and income generating activities and on cross cutting
issues such as HIV/AIDS and Gender.
4. Collecting and disseminating of information on experiences and knowledge of farmers
through publications such as Pambazukoquarterly Newsletter ‘The Voice of Farmers’,
weekly radio program ‘Voice of MVIWATA and other publications.
5. Develop participatory economic projects for the purpose of economically empowering
farmers
6. Organizing farmers’ dialogue and forums such workshops and meetings, study tours,
exchange visits and facilitation of farmers to participation in agricultural shows to market
their products and enhance learning.

THE ORGANIZATION MEMBERS

Associate memberis any person, institution or a group of people, who cannot become ordinary
members but whose contribution can be outstanding and can enhance the mission of MVIWATA.
Currently MVIWATA it has about 70, 000 individual small-scale farmers through their groups.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THIS POLICY:

 To strengthen local groups and networks through motivating self-reliance attitudes and
encouraging farmers to defend their own interests by training farmers on collective action
for poverty reduction in rural areas, without becoming government or donor dependent.
Training aims at capacity building of the members involved in the network.
 To encourage provision of participatory training skills to network members through
extension services and study tours. Training which target at leaders appointed by their
 respective groups to attend the courses. After completion of the course, these leaders are
required to provide feedback to their respective groups and networks so that the
knowledge they have gained can be disseminated to all members.

Generally; An effective implementation of the MVIWATA Policy will mitigate and possibly wipe
out socio-economic development problems facing agriculturalists in Morogoro. The success of
its implementation, however, will depend on the commitment of individuals, families,
departments to their implementation role.

Reference

Mtandao wa vikundi report 2013. Retrieved from: www.mviwata.org visited on 18th May 2015

Networking for agricultural innovation. The MVIWATA national network of farmers’ groups in
Tanzania.Retrevedfromhttp://www.kit.nl/sed/wpcontent/uploads/publications/913_Case%20Study
%20Tanzania2.pdf