About FARM-Africa:
FARM-Africa is a specialist development organisation and a recognised expert in their field. They develop innovative ways of helping the rural poor to grow more food, keep their livestock healthy and manage their environment so the gains are sustainable.

An increase in agricultural production impacts rapidly on the lives of individuals and communities. Increased production provides families with sufficient food and surplus to sell generating income and rural communities benefit immediately from having more and better food available locally. FARM-Africa supports people in making the most of these improvements to their livelihoods and developing their income-generating activities further.

FARM-Africa does not build parallel structures. They work with local institutions and leaders and government staff to build the capacity, skills and mechanisms that communities have. Their experience has taught us that with the appropriate knowledge, skills and resources rural communities are very capable of managing and sustaining their own development.

The projects:

Improving Pastoralist Livelihoods in Babati, Hanang and Mbulu, northern Tanzania.

Objective: to support pastoralists in northern Tanzania, most of whom are of the Barabaig tribe, in establishing secure and sustainable livelihoods and adapting successfully to the challenges they face.

The need: Northern Tanzania is a region prone to rain failure and frequent periods of drought. Barabaig communities in this region are some of the most marginalised and poorest in Tanzania. Families survive with limited access to essential services such as clean water, healthcare, education, veterinary services and roads. The majority are pastoralists who rely heavily on their livestock to provide for basic household needs. Pastoralists move with their animals to find the best pastures and water sources in a region of scarce resources. Their livelihoods are extremely vulnerable to external shocks especially drought and livestock diseases.

The project: FARM-Africas project which started in 2006 and will continue until 2010 operates through mobile camps within pastoralist communities to address the key challenges pastoralists face by training and supporting these communities in establishing:
- community groups to help the poorest families build their assets through small livestock-rearing,
- an affordable and effective community animal healthcare system to ensure livestock remain healthy and that there is an effective disease surveillance system in place.
- Land use plans that bring communities together in sharing their limited resources and protecting them from over-use and degradation.
- Livestock marketing groups that bring greater gains to pastoralists, village development committees to plan and implement projects, such as the construction of water points, that reflect the communities’ needs and priorities.
- Credit associations that provide people with the knowledge, skills and funds to develop successful income-generating enterprises

Improving Rural Livelihoods through Bee-keeping, Nou Forest, Tanzania

Objective: to enable 180 very poor farmers in 12 beekeeping groups in villages around the Nou Forest to improve their livelihoods through sustainable honey production and marketing. Honey can be harvested twice a year and sells for around 2,000 Tanzanian shillings (82p) per litre. Participants are expected to generate additional regular income of almost £500 a year from beekeeping. The opportunities and gains provided by the project will be shared with 900 other farmers through a demonstration site and regular open days.

The need: Several communities border and live in the Nou Forest Reserve, Babati district, Tanzania. Villagers around the Nou Forest are typically subsistence farmers who struggle to produce sufficient to feed their families let alone surplus to sell. Many survive by selling firewood collected from the forest. Around 50% of the population lives below the poverty line of 50p a day and the government of Tanzania estimates that 38% of children are underweight due to lack of nutrition. Under nutrition impacts significantly on peoples ability to be productive and is a major risk factor associated with disease and child mortality.

The project: Honey has a strong domestic and external market but despite the fact that the forest provides an ideal environment for beekeeping, honey production has not been taken up widely by communities in this area and traditional beekeeping methods produce low yields. Modern hives produce around 10 times more honey than traditional hives. FARM-Africas project, which starts in July 2007, will provide training on modern beekeeping techniques; establish a revolving savings and credit scheme to help farmers buy modern hives and develop their enterprises; facilitate purchasing contracts with Honey Care Africa a private sector honey marketing company which has already committed to the project; and set up a demonstration site and programme for other farmers to learn from the project.