Ngara, TZ – Mazingira VICOBA tree nursery is getting going! – 31 Oct 2022

The Mazingira Village Community Banking Association (VICOBA) is taking one step at a time and has now started to pay its loan repayments successfully after harvesting and selling seedlings from their commercial tree nursery.

The nursery team borrowed 392,000 TZS from SODAT as a backup capital for growing a commercial tree nursery. In October this year they began selling 1,116 seedlings worth 167,400 TZS to pay back its loan in three phases. November will pay 150,000 TZS, December 150,000 TZS, and January 2023 will complete by paying 92,000 TZS.

The VICOBA has received orders for 15,000 seedlings and they expect to deliver and receive payment for 3,000 of them before year end

Late rains have caused customers to delay their orders to avoid loss by waiting until rains are constant and enough to plant trees safely.

The VICOBA team are planning to sell all tree seedlings by March 2023 to earn a net income of 1,7000 TZS. This income will improve and expand their new commercial tree nursery to 16,000 seedling tubes for meeting the expected demand. Moreove, they are organizing more marketing and distribution to reach more farmers in far communities by hiring a delivery motorcycle.