Rukia Chaklya is a 40-year-old farmer from Mandiwa village in Southern Tanzania’s Mtwara region. Here, nearly 90 percent of the population is engaged in rain-fed agriculture. Despite this, access to inputs—like improved seeds and fertilizer—is low, and farmers in villages like Mandiwa struggle to afford and acquire them.
Farmers like Rukia in Mtwara are some of the poorest and most poorly-served in Tanzania, and part of the reason is its economic and infrastructural isolation, which make the sustainable operation of private industry and public services prohibitively difficult in the region. Agricultural input suppliers have mostly stayed away.
So when myAgro began offering its services in the Mtwara region in October 2018, Rukia immediately decided to purchase a one-acre package of maize inputs from myAgro. After paying for his package little by little using mobile money, and having the inputs delivered to his village by myAgro, he attended trainings held by myAgro staff to prepare his land and plant. When harvest time came around, the result was remarkable.
“My farm received the admiration of passers-by,” Rukia says. “Many vehicles parked next to it to take photos. I was happy that my work was recognized.”
Rukia’s use of mobile layaway exemplifies the reason myAgro’s model is so crucial to meeting farmers’ financial needs; he paid for his package in nine separate installments—some as low as $2—without needing to raise a large, lump sum of capital or take out a loan.
A major challenge faced by farmers in Mtwara is the prevalence of Fall Armyworm, a pest native to South America that can decimate up to 70 percent of farmers’ fields. myAgro provided Rukia an integrated pest management solution as part of his package.
“Despite selling some of my harvest on the market, losses from Fall Armyworm attacks, and rain shortages during the growing season, I expect to finish with no fewer than 9 sacks of maize from my myAgro field,” Rukia says. myAgro farmers in Tanzania grow an average 114 percent more maize than control farmers.
It’s this increased yield, and resulting income that convinced Rukia to also purchase a package of sunflower inputs from myAgro after the maize planting season ended. This year, he is looking forward to his sunflower harvest, when he’ll measure the effectiveness of planting the crop with hybrid seeds and fertilizer—both firsts for Rukia’s farm.
“Next year,” Rukia says, “I’m thinking of growing a bit more with myAgro.”
