Moshi, TZ – Organic vegetable garden helping take advantage of business opportunities

The EJM family lives in Mwangaria village, in southeast Kahe Ward. Both parents are small land holder farmers and they have three children age 13,10, and 2. Samson and Joseph, the oldest children both attend Mwangaria Primary School and dream of becoming teachers.

In Mwangaria village eye problems are very common. The father of the EJM family suffered with various eye diseases for five years. While the exact cause of these frequent illnesses is unknown, local doctors have suggested that eye problems in farmers are common when farmers handle chemical fertilizers and pesticides and then touch their eyes. Ingesting such chemicals can also cause eye problems.

The EJM family built a strong bond with Tupendane garden shop when the father decided to start organic gardening and avoiding chemicals as much as possible. This meant learning to deal with pests, poor soil, and difficult weather conditions without the use of chemicals. The family has worked hard and is continuing to develop their understanding of organic best practices. Their work is paying off and they are consistently eating vegetables from their garden in addition to selling around 20,000 TZS (US $10.00) of vegetables per month. They have saved this money for the past four months and bought two goats for 40,000 TZS each. They are hoping to start a business buying and fattening goats at home.

The family’s next goal is to save enough to open a small kiosk selling essential items such as salt, oil, and flour. The community is currently lacking a shop like this, so many families have to walk a long way to purchase basic living supplies.