ZEZE VILLAGE-KASULU
MORINGA OLEIFERA PRODUCTION ANNUAL REPORT
2012-2013
INTRODUCTION
Moringa Oleifera is a natural plant with a lot of benefits definitely over the earth survivors. Following the results of worldwide researches which have done on the benefits of Moringa Oleifera, it influenced the intervention in moringa cultivation at Zeze village in 2012/2013 so as to quench food insecurity, malnutrition and diseases problems prevailing to rural communities.
Early in 2012 after the collection of important information on the moringa plant behavior, the campaign to introduce its value to the community of Zeze village was carried out though individuals’ participation and class attendances for lectures. Even though the promotion of the knowledge to the majority was given priority, the attendance was not as great as it was expected.
In regard to the community participation and perception on the moringa plant, it seemed that there were the needs of commencement of moringa cultivation at Zeze village as the start area with at least 10ha within the initial year (2012-2013). In September of 2012 farm works started for moringa cultivation through the use of traditional means of working like bush knives, hand hoes, and axes in participatory system to cover the planned area in a given time.
The farm work was not straight forward implemented as the cooperation faced challenges which were unavoidable to any viable working groups especially in developing world. In the first phase it was the good class to learn the strength and weakness in the process of managing the projects like this and suggest the best ways toward successfully management of the plans.
This report gives the annual information on moringa cultivation, conditions, challenges, and way forward for the forthcoming management and cultivation of moringa plant for sustainable rural development. It is hopeful that these information will be suitable and be considered to as the driving factor for any person, organization, institution and or governments get involved in the forthcoming development of moringa cultivation at Zeze village and other parts we expect to expand the knowledge and services.
THE PLAN FOR 2012-2013
PRE-CULTIVATION/FARM ACTIVITIES PLAN (JANUARY-OCTOBER 2012)
First plan before commencement of the farm activities was as scheduled in a table below;
Table 1: activities schedule for pre-farm works for 2012-2013 plan
| S/N | ACTIVITY | MEANS TO ACCOMPLISH IT | ESTIMATED COST (Tshs) |
| 01 | Problem identification | Project design, write up and printing. | 3,860,00 |
| 01 | To get sufficient information about moringa oleifera | § Through internet publications search. § Talking to experts of various fields. | |
| 02 | To get support from various people whose interest to help poor communities | § Online search and communication § Organizations office visit to introduce the idea | |
| 03 | Study feasibility | § Community assessment § Area visit/observation § Community involvement § Organizational involvement/survey | |
| 04 | Awareness rising about moringa | § Flayers/hard prints § Home visit § Group talk § Classroom attendance | |
| 05 | Seeds procurement | § Older small farmers in Dodoma § Moringa Dealer Company from Arusha. |
Attempts for the above activities
All the planned activities as scheduled on the table above was to a large extent attempted despite that there were challenges toward implementation of the project at the area of choice. The following were the activities done to attempt the pre-farm works plan;
Table 2: Activities done pre-farm works for 2012-2013 plan
| S/N | ACTIVITY | MATERIALS USED | DATE IT WAS DONE | INVOLVED STAKEHOLDERS | COSTS ENCORED (TSHS) |
| 01 | To get sufficient information about moringa oleifera | 1. Internet service provider. 2. Printing publications. 3. Public transport/ foot walking. | January-May 2012 | 1. Internet and computer service dealers (Dodoma and Kasulu). 2. Moringa producers and product dealers from (Arusha and Dodoma)-Tanzania, Kenya, Thailand, etc. | 900,000 |
| 02 | To get support from various people whose interest to help poor communities | 1. Websites and electronic mails. 2. Talking to people. | April –December 2012 | 1 Fund rising on internet 2 Request to Individuals support from Sweden, UK, Thailand and Austria. 3 Companies around the world. | |
| 03 | Study feasibility | Area visit/observation | June to September 2012 | 1. Selected runners 2. Farmers | 87,500 |
| 04 | Awareness rising about moringa | 1. Hard copies 2. Discussion 3. Classroom teaching | June to October 2012 | 1. Zeze community 2. Selected people from other parts. | 134,600 |
| 05 | Seeds procurement | 1. Money 2. Car/transport means | October to December 2012 | 1. Small scale farmers in Dodoma; and 2. Tanzania Moringa Consultancy Company LTD-Arusha | 413,000 |
| | SUB-TOTAL | 1,535,100 | |||
Achievements
During this phase, it was plausible to achieve the following;
1. Collection of valuable information about moringa oleifera from various sources and delivers them to farmer and dealer communities within 10 months (January to October 2012).
2. Managed to raise awareness among farmers community on the benefits of Moringa oleifera and influenced them to begun cultivation, influence others and use Moringa oleifera for directed values it has.
3. Enabled identification of potential 23 acres suitable for moringa oleifera cultivation (during study feasibility), which then were introduced with moringa planting.
4. It created the project to get supporters notably both internal and external people who intervene into the project in different ways (ideas and financially) but motivating the viability of moringa cultivation/production idea.
5. It was the time in which scarce funds (349566 Tshs) was raised supported seeds procurements and delivered to farm area for planting.
As it was the initial stage of the idea dissemination to people, these achievements indicated the good start toward moringa oleifera production in the forthcoming years. Nevertheless this stage encountered challenges which are regarded to as the motives toward improvements in some arrangements so as to cause significant impacts on the forthcoming annual plan.
Challenges encountered
1. Inadequate accessibility to technological equipments like computers, internet service, transport, etc. which would have simplified communication, training and influencing majority to come close.
2. Financial incapability had been a great challenge that made everything not to be done in a right time and to projected number of stakeholders. It required having 3,860,000 Tanzania Shillings but only 1,535,100 Tanzania shillings was made and used.
3. Poor support and community willingness to get involved had been an impediment to successful plan. Donors are reluctant to support the idea while the community of Zeze still is not clear with the species values compared to other native crops.
Conclusion
The above information envisage all the activities attempted in the first stage of testing how project of moringa oleifera production can be accepted and encouraged at Zeze village in the seed of promoting sustainable rural development. The real picture provided by the stage presented above revealed that the rural community can be supported by Moringa oleifera in reducing income poverty, deforestation, food insecurity, malnutrition and improved health. Also it shown the influence of some potential people and organizations to get involved in supporting and trade moringa if there will be precise information about the project conditions at the area.
Way forward
However pre-farm activities have done to its level, there is still a need to continue with time to time research on the Moringa benefits and acceptability from various sources, environmental impacts at the area and added advantages on the community of Zeze village.
There is a need of involving more stakeholders especially agriculture and health experts, community, moringa dealers and donors so as to facilitate all activities required for moringa production and marketing for rural sustainable development.
