Assessment Of Consortium Approach In Food Value Chain Development On Income Of Smallholder Farmers In Tanzania, East Africa

Agriculture provides enormous opportunity for diversification of the income based of East African Community (EAC). Agriculture is an important driver and enabler of economic development of most African countries. Agriculture as one of the most important sectors in East African Community accounts for about 80% of the workforce comprising the smallholder farmers in rural areas for their livelihoods. In spite of this, the EAC is characterized by low agricultural productivity and low income thus rated amongst the poorest in Africa. Approximately 60 per cent of the population of EAC live below the poverty line and 46,362,187 people (Kenya 16,728,252; Tanzania 11,679,275; Uganda 7,329,365; Burundi 6,373,165; Rwanda 4,252,130 population) of EAC’s poor live in rural areas  and majority of  are smallholder farmers who have yet agriculture as their means of livelihood (State of East Africa Report, 2016). This problem is due to the fact that most smallholder farmers are constrain by low productivity and income which have placed them in position of not been able to feed themselves adequately throughout the year, thereby make them vulnerable to shocks, stress and poverty. The EAC Vision 2050 (2016) reported that the key long-standing challenges of smallholder farmers is low productivity stemming from poor access to farm inputs and the lack of access to markets, credit and technology compounded by the volatile food and energy prices. Smallholder farmers dominate agricultural sector of EAC, occupying the majority of land and produce most of the crop and livestock products.