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Animal Welfare Action Days at the Farmer Training Centre (December 5th-9th, 2022)

Animals are living beings that can feel and therefore also suffer. Whether pets or farm animals, animals living in the wild or strays, they all deserve to be treated respectfully and in an animal-friendly manner. But what do animals need to be well? And what should be avoided? These and other pertinent questions were the focus of the Animal Welfare Action Days, which SAT held for the first time at the Farmer Training Center in early December 2022. Speakers included two top experts, Andrew Crump, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Officer at the London School of Economics and Political Science, working on the Foundations of Animal Sentience project (ASENT), and Dr. Paul Ssuna, MSc in Applied Animal Behavior and Animal Welfare, a veterinarian at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and project manager for the World Animal Protection Society’s Veterinarians Worldwide program.

While the first day was spent in the fields with farmers and livestock owners, on the second and third days, some 65 SAT employees, as well as representatives of the organic umbrella organizations Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement and Kenya Organic Agriculture Network, and journalists listened intently to the speakers’ presentations, provided their input in group work, and finally even laid hands on the animals themselves.

SAT is already pursuing numerous practices for the benefit of the animals. But they are not written down anywhere. Not least, for this reason, the last two days were devoted to drafting SAT’s animal welfare guidelines and developing a curriculum so that animal welfare can be taught regularly at the FTC in the future. “On the one hand, this is important because animals are particularly close to our hearts,” emphasizes Alex Wostry, CEO of Operations SAT. “On the other hand, our goal is to become the first certified organic dairy in East Africa. That is why we are very pleased that representatives of the organic umbrella organizations also took part in the animal welfare action days. Together we will do our utmost to expand the East African organic products standard to include certification of dairy operations.”

It should be emphasized that animal welfare is not only an ethical or moral responsibility but even a legal obligation. For example, Tanzania has for many years had one of the best animal welfare laws compared to other African countries, if not considered globally. The problem, however, is that on the one hand, the population lacks the necessary awareness of the needs of animals, and on the other hand, the police, who are responsible for control in this country, are not trained in it.

Fundamentals of animal welfare

The fact is: Animal welfare starts with people. Whether due to ignorance, carelessness, or simply economic constraints – animals suffer due to human misconduct, lack of basic veterinary care, and lack of implementation of existing protection regulations.

SAT has therefore made its business to change this situation and to live active animal welfare. One of the crucial foundations for this is the internationally recognized “Five Freedoms”, which the participants at the Animal Welfare Action Days dealt with in detail:

1. Freedom from hunger, thirst, and malnutrition

2. Freedom from discomfort

3. Freedom from fear and suffering

4. Freedom from pain, injury, and disease

5. Freedom to act out normal behaviour

In addition, topics such as animal husbandry, transportation, slaughter, and pain management were addressed. In every respect, the focus should be on preventing or at least minimizing stress, pain, injury, and physical and psychological suffering. In the group work, the practical exercises, and the respective group discussions afterwards, it became clear which areas are already well implemented at SAT, but also where there is a need for improvement. Thus, in the end, it was clear that there was a need for action, especially regarding the awareness and knowledge of farmers and livestock keepers. The participants – especially those who work directly with the farmers – agreed that in the future everything would be done to pass on the knowledge learned during the Animal Welfare Action Days and to push compliance with the new SAT animal welfare guidelines.

To be continued

Another unexpected result, if you will, was that on the fringes of the workshops, the idea was born to set up an independent laboratory for blood and stool analyses – based at the organic dairy. This project, budgeted at around 15,000 euros, should enable livestock farmers to offer high-quality organic milk at fair prices from 2023. “In the context of animal welfare guidelines, the laboratory represents a win-win situation,” Alex Wostry is convinced. “If the animals are better off, they give more milk. This, in turn, allows the Maasai to produce more organic milk at better prices.”

At any rate, at the end of the week, it was clear: These were not the last animal protection action days. Rather, concrete plans have already been made for three-day workshops that will start in 2023. After all, animal welfare benefits not only the animals but each one of us. With this in mind, here’s to a world in which humans and animals live in harmony with each other and in which animals are treated with respect and in a manner appropriate to their species.

The workshop is kindly supported by the Biovision Foundation

Our 2021 Progress Report!

We are excited to present our 10 Years of Impact progress report. In 2021 our organization marked ten years since registration making it our 10th anniversary as a local, national non-governmental organization in Tanzania.

In the 2021 Annual Report of SAT, you can learn more about how we pursue our track and what we have achieved so far. It is, therefore, a progress report over 10 Years of Impact – you can find the link below. Enjoy the read

My stay at the Farmer Training Centre (FTC) – during my time as a volunteer at SAT, I spent a few nights there, and it was terrific. I loved how excellent and friendly the staff was (and, of course, still is 😉 ). Everybody showed me around, helped me out and wanted to make my stay memorable. Not forgetting the excellent food which two wonderful mamas cooked. Angelina, one of the staff working at the farm, gave me a brief tour of the water cycle, although her time was limited.

The water, which was used for washing hands and showering, is collected in a little basin. This basin has rocks and grass on it, which separates rubbish from water. The next basin has elephant grass, which filters some chemicals, like heavy metals, out of the water. Now the water is fully filtered and can be used to water the plants and trees on the farm. I was impressed by this simple system of reusing water.

At the FTC, I attended the course Natural Medicine, held by Dr Feleshi. He is a Tanzanian Ambassador for ANAMED (Action for Natural Medicine in the Tropics). This international Christian Organisation promotes responsible, sustainable and universally accessible health and nutrition.

Dr Feleshi is an inspiring person and shared a lot of experiences and stories with the participants. The practical part was done by the participants and as a team. This engaging learning method was very useful in strengthening the learned theory and removing the inhibition of trying it alone at home. He explained the topics and tasks very well and had no problem telling them over and over again until everybody understood.

In my free time, I loved to stroll through the various demonstration plots and gardens, where I tried to identify the multiple species planted next to each other for a positive interplay.

The two newly bought cows still needed a name, so one cow was named after me. As you can imagine, I had to visit my cow buddy multiple times a day. On my way to her, I checked on the other animals as well: goats, chickens, cattle and donkeys, as well as pigs.

I only realized how many people live at the FTC when it is time to eat or when a soccer game is on. Then they all gathered in front of the TV for a game, and as soon as the match was over, they scattered around the FTC again. This little community lives as one big family. Everyone smiles, greets and is helpful, regardless of co-worker or participant. For me, the place is magic. It is calm and, at the same time, alive, it is quiet, but you always find somebody to chat with; it is peaceful and inspiring. I will never forget my time at the FTC. Thank you, Angelina, for making it possible.

This is a featured post by Marie Louise, a volunteer at SAT.

Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT) has trained farmers in various Agroecological (AE) practices ranging from farm preparation to post-harvest handling. Farmers who have been practising AE acknowledge that AE practices generate many benefits, including environmental, health, economic, and social benefits. The socioeconomic benefits include improved household food security and increased income.

Even though farmers understand the benefits of AE practices, they are some challenges on the farm. Among the arguments they provide are the following:

1. There are no ready-made organic inputs (biofertilizers and biopesticides) available for them to use in their farms.
2. Ineffective inputs, especially botanical extracts, when applied to the crops such as cereals and spices.
3. AE practices for pest management are tedious as they spend much time spraying botanicals in the same field.
4. It is hard to practice AE in large farms as they must apply large quantities of organic inputs (biofertilizers and biopesticides), which they claim to be labour-intensive.
5. The prices for the products produced using AE practices do not incentivise them to continue producing using AE practices.
6. Shortage of pastures in the dry spell force livestock keepers to move, increasing land resource use pressure.

As an organization promoting sustainable farming methods, we are very determined to address the concerns farmers raise to ensure they continue practising AE on their farms. Apart from training them on best AE practices, we are also dedicated to researching so that, in the end, all the concerns raised by farmers are addressed. Since 2014 we have dedicated some financial resources to researching AE, and to some extent, they have provided solutions to what farmers are complaining about. AE cannot be isolated from the rapidly growing technology in the agriculture sector. When you hear from farmers, their concerns imply that AE practices need some mechanization. Dedicating resources to the research may help to attain what farmers want under AE.

As a young researcher, you a part of the change by contributing through conducting participatory research with farmers to find the solutions which will address the farmers’ concerns raised about practising AE. We invite students from Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) who are in year 3 of their study and year 5 of their study for those programs which run for five years to attend the 9th workshop for participatory design (WPRD) on 10th December 2022, where you will learn more about the challenges and come up with a concept of addressing the challenge.

WPRD is part of the Farmer-Centred Agroecology Research (FCAR) which provides solutions for small-scale farmers practising agroecological farming methods. The FCAR decentralizes the research process and puts the farmers at the centre where they can express their key issues.  Students start collaborations with farmers to design and conduct participatory research to address these issues.

The best concepts will be selected and supported with TZS 1,100,000 for undergraduate and TZS 3,300,000 for post graduate students. The only way to get these funds is to participate the workshop and put up the convincing concept note that will show clearly how you will address the challenge. Concept with the focus of innovating farming equipment to simplify AE practices are highly encouraged

To participate to this workshop please send your expression of interest (EI) to us through our communication email wprd@kilimo.org not later than 2^nd December 2022. The EI should not exceed 300 characters. Those who will write good EI will be invited to attend the workshop.

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Principal Accountant

Job brief

Our principal accountant is a senior-level accountant who leads the accounting department. He or She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s financial reporting, including preparing annual reports and assuring full compliance. The principal accountant also provides guidance to management on how best to use their resources to maximize profitability. This may include recommending ways to cut costs or increase activities in the organisation.

If you are a motivated and passionate individual who shares our conviction that our world has to do more about the sustainability of the human race and the environment. In that case, we want to hear from you.

Responsibilities

• Supervises activities of subordinates; assigns work and evaluates performance.
• Plans directs organizes and schedules the activities of a specialized accounting function or several accounting areas.
• Prepares and/or supervises the preparation of financial reports and reconciliation.
• Advises administrative management as to procedures concerning expenditures and other accounting practices.
• Prepares and/or directs the preparation of specialized or highly complex reports, statements, surveys, or analyses for management.
• Maintains accounting and budget records.
• Recommends management alternatives when accounting data indicates trends or situations requiring action to be taken beyond the scope of responsibilities.
• Research, analyse, and use independent judgment in daily and non-routine decisions affecting assigned functions.
• Maintain inventories of all office fixed assets, office equipment and supplies and ensure that equipment and fixed assets are insured and properly maintained and damages and losses are reported.
• Provides internal/external training, both orally and in writing, on accounting systems, procedures, and practices.
• Prepare monthly financial reports and ensure appropriate coding/allocations.
• Coordinate project audits, including preparing financial reports and submitting financial support documents.
• Provides technical advice and services to lower-level accountants or other staff with problems, complex issues, or special projects.
• Assist project staff in developing budgets for project activities and processing budget modification requests.
• Researches and evaluates new or changed accounting principles and practices.

Requirements

• Knowledge of accounting principles, theory, and practices.
• Knowledge of supervisory principles, practices, and techniques.
• Attention to detail
• Knowledge of computerized accounting systems and applications to include main frame systems, personal computers, and general software applications. Preferably SAGE 300Advance.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, competent IT skills, solid planning and organization skills, strong numerical skills and attention to detail, uphold integrity, team player and leader and ability to work in a multicultural environment.

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelors in business commerce/Accounting/Finance or other related fields from a recognized University. Professional qualification in accountancy such as CPA or ACCA.

Four years of professional accounting experience in a senior position of a donor-funded organization; OR, eight years of professional accounting experience; OR, any equivalent combination of experience and/or education from which comparable knowledge, skills and abilities have been achieved

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

• An application letter describing your motivation for the position
• Recommendation letter
• Up-to-date Curriculum Vitae with three current contacts of reference
• Copies of relevant certificates, and transcripts
• Current and expected remuneration

Applications should be addressed to

Human Resource Manager

Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT),

P.O Box 6369,

Morogoro

Applications

No phone calls or in-person applications will be accepted. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted, so there is no need to follow up. Applications must apply via online application before 27th November 2022.

It was that time of the year for the National Agriculture Exhibition, or Farmer’s Day (Nanenane). Nane Nane is an annual celebration that recognises the contribution of farmers to the Tanzanian economy. It goes for eight days, with agricultural exhibitions running in different regions across the country. It all culminates with a national holiday on the 8th of August. For this year 2022, Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT) was in 5 regions; those were Morogoro, Dodoma, Arusha, Mbeya, and Lindi, together with our farmers.

Since the majority of people are now expressing a greater interest in the health benefits of eating organic food, it is a huge success for SAT nationwide. This demonstrates the growing popularity of organic agriculture throughout the nation. People are curious about how food is made and processed, in addition to what foods are healthy. As a result, SAT prepared a 100% organic showcase for the annual Nane Nane event, including the gardens, technology, and finished goods, to quench their demand for information and goods.

SAT has been preparing for the event since late June, with the main objective being to spread awareness about organic agriculture to both farmers and our customers. So, for this year, SAT had a lot to offer, including the following:

Backyard garden

Simply said, a backyard garden is a home garden that can give your family everyday access to fresh, green veggies. The SAT’s backyard garden featured a variety of technologies, including an anthill garden, a tyre garden, a hanging garden, and a table garden. Some of the benefits of a backyard garden, according to the SAT facilitator, include reliable access to fresh fruits and vegetables, time and money savings from not having to go to the store anymore, and most importantly, keeping you and your family healthy by eating regularly healthy organic vegetables.

Organic produce means healthy produce free of harmful pesticides and chemicals that are detrimental to both health and the environment.

In-depth information on factors to take into account when preparing a backyard garden, such as size, slopes, location, root systems, and irrigation, was provided to our guests. We generally encourage a healthy lifestyle by consuming fresh produce farmed nearby.

Energy Saving stove

This stove is made with raw materials easily accessible to locals, like clay soil and burned bricks. It is very efficient and uses very little firewood to cook. Beyond cooking, this innovative technology also allows for the baking and roasting of BBQ while simultaneously delivering hot, boiling water. . Furthermore, it has an oven-like feature at the bottom to keep your food warm long after you have finished cooking it.

Standards for organic livestock production

This year, there was also a demonstration on how to raise organic livestock. Visitors learned how to combine raising livestock with organic farming by adhering to certain principles, such as feeding them organic feed and fooder, using natural breeding practices, safeguarding the health and welfare of animals, allowing animals to act naturally, and providing pasture that is accessible all year long. Prohibition of use of chemically synthesised allopathic veterinary drugs, including antibiotics, hormones, growth boosters, etc.

Organic Products

SAT Holistic Group LTD, a social business affiliated with the SAT NGO, offers a range of organic products for our visitors, including fresh fruits and vegetables, cereals, sunflower oil, spices, pasteurised milk, and plain yoghurt. The items and knowledge provided by the SAT facilitators were well received by our clients, who also learned more about how to access them.

More technologies were presented like the ‘Jokofu La Asili’ Zero Energy Cooling Chamber (ZECC), a cold room made from materials which are cheap and easily accessible to locals, utilising burned bricks, sand, and sacks to ensure food stays cold and fresh long after harvest. Cultivation of Azolla, used as biofertilizer in coffee plantations, feeds ingredients in broiler rations and increases nitrogen fertiliser.

SAT’s demonstration garden at the Nane Nane grounds country-wide welcomed 481 visitors in Dodoma and 1385 visitors in Morogoro. For more than ten years now, SAT has really grown, with many more demonstrations and technologies to show. The mission toward an organic future is close to our hearts.

In Tanzania, more than 14 million people (26% of the population) live below the poverty line and 60% of the female population lives in extreme poverty. In addition, subsistence agriculture alone accounts for 80% of women’s jobs. In fact, while agriculture still provides nearly 77% of jobs in the country, the sector supplies only 25% of gross domestic product (GDP). The feminization of poverty is thus a real challenge in Tanzania and is particularly concentrated in the agricultural sector.

At the same time, more than 50% of women are in the economic sector of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) where excellence can be achieved, provided they have access to financial support and reinforcement of capacities to professionalize and develop their activities.

So there was a need to provide these young girls with vocational training and support them in creating micro / small businesses around agro-ecology.

Salome Isaack is a young woman from Iyombo Village in the Nzega District of the Tabora region passionate about agriculture and entrepreneurship. Salome was a typical housewife who lived with her husband for years, but she always felt that there was something missing. She had to wake up, do chores, cook, and sit without doing anything specific for the entire day. She was a little irritated about this since she occasionally asked her husband for money so she could buy soap or any small thing for the house. The ambition to start her own business grew stronger as the challenges multiplied.

An effort had to be made to connect with these women. Msichana Initiative, Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT), and Practical Permaculture Institute of Zanzibar (PPIZ) with financial support from the French Embassy under the supervision of FCS Trust have developed a project titled “Girls Empowerment through Agroecology and Permaculture” (GAPE). Salome saw this as an opportunity when the project facilitators arrived in Nzega District. She had heard that they would be facilitated to be able to start their own business and learn more about organic agriculture. So she joined the group of Umoja Ni Nguvu, which included other young women around her village.

She used the knowledge she gained from SAT’s organic agriculture training to launch a small farm garden close to her house. Spinach was one of the vegetables she grew in the garden. Salome began harvesting the spinach after 7 weeks, earning Tsh 8,000. She used this money to start her poultry business by purchasing three chickens. She was sure to succeed with all the ways she had learned, including proper chicken feeding methods, building a better pavilion, and using biopesticides to avoid disease and commercial breeding.

“Our facilitators taught us different methods of feeding chickens, vaccination of chickens and other ways to prevent diseases in chickens, and I used those methods properly where so far I see the results are good” said Salome.

Salome currently has thirty chickens, and her goal is to grow her poultry business to the point where she can support herself financially.

In seasonal crops, in the last season of 2021, she cultivated sunflower and maize crops. She managed to harvest up to 3 bags of maize and 3 bags of sunflower just in her first season, this really changed her perspective on agriculture.

What agriculture provides to human beings is far from producing food or making money. It plays a huge role in maintaining the environment of the whole planet, and the environment for human survival. Organic agriculture plays an important role in taking care of the environment and existing organisms. Chemical pesticides are now being used more frequently, which is destroying the ecology and biodiversity.

She now appreciates the value of preserving the environment and providing a healthy diet for her family and future generations thanks to the training she received.

She now plants medicinal plants like neem trees and wild plantains, which are both used as medicines, all around her farm. These plants can be used as effective remedies to treat animal and crop illnesses. Salome has also been able to dig a water pond to irrigate crops on her land in addition to planting medicinal plants. She uses irrigation systems on her farm to grow maize and beans on this land.

Since then, Salome has always had the desire to launch a business. Given some of the difficulties they were facing at home, having additional income would significantly raise their standard of living and enable them to meet even the most basic demands. As a result, putting the training in place and finding success in organic agriculture, especially from the seasonal crops would be a fantastic source of funding for her north star business.

Salome, however, is a brilliant investor and she is just 25 years old. She was successful in forming a group of unity with her four friends. They had the bright notion to establish a baobab value addition business together. For only 12,000 shillings, they were able to hire a baobab tree from an Iyombo Villager. The tree was harvested, given more value, and then sold for both wholesale and retail rates. From the baobab value addition business, they have so far been able to raise Tsh 40,000.

Salome operates a clothing and fabric business with the profits from her baobab value addition business. She makes money by purchasing clothing in Nzega town and then reselling it at a higher price. Additionally, she redesigned some of the fabrics to create children’s clothing and expand the market by selling to neighboring villages.

Despite all of her achievements, Salome still has to deal with issues including a lack of reliable sources of water for irrigation and no means of transportation to get her goods to other villages. Despite all of these difficulties, Salome is still committed to farming and business. Salome is a real brave girl and an inspiration with all of these efforts she makes.

This project is implemented by Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT) in collaboration with the Msichana Initiative and Practical Permaculture Institute of Zanzibar (PPIZ) with financial support from the French Embassy under the supervision of FCS Trust

Database and App Development and Implementation

Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT) is seeking to hire an external developer to develop and implement a web application for smartphones with a database to collect/manage/analyse information from all the activities, which are carried out in the field (crop yield, training, GIS, inputs, complaints…). The requirements have already been defined, but still, need to be expanded and refined. Staff from SAT will support this process.

The developer is free to propose the methodologies, the programming software, and the web framework. The project budget contains the costs for the developer, technical tools, requirements engineering on site and the implementation of the web application and the database.

These Terms of Reference (ToR) serve as a request for proposals from individual developers/firms interested in conducting the project. The project is funded by Austrian Development Agency and Land Vorarlberg through the Uluguru Spice Project II.

Scope of the assignment

The project “Database and App Development and Implementation” includes the following scope:

1. Finalizing the concept of implementation
2. Prototype of Application
3. Application manual and process description
4. Installation of application and database as MVP (minimal viable product)
5. Solving bugs and expanding version 1.0 because of given feedback from SAT
6. Installation of application and database with a version 2.0
7. Ensuring the import of existing, providing data
8. The following categories must be implemented (further details in the excel “Data Base Requirements):
   1. Basis (farmer registration – Picture, Name, Farmer Number, GIS, plot size, crops cultivated, Group, Village)
9. If time and budget allow, further categories can be implemented in the subsequent prioritization:
   • Production
   • Farmer Visits
   • Prepared queries/analysis (at the push of a button)
   • Projects
   • Certification (requirements for organic certification -> training attended, inputs used, crops yielded, certified/in transition/currently suspended)

Developer(s) qualifications/competencies

• A graduate degree in computer science or related field.
• Excellent and proven track record in full-stack development with experience in web applications.
• Proficiency in multiple front-end and back-end programming languages
• Ability to quickly familiarise oneself with new and complex tasks
• Independent and responsible
• The ability to produce well-written process descriptions and application manuals in English is essential.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Willingness to come to Morogoro, Tanzania to do an on-site requirements analysis in cooperation with SAT staff
• Knowledge of the SAT organization is a big plus.

Application procedure

Interested applicants should submit; (1) a cover letter of expression of interest, (2) curriculum vitae, (3) a technical proposal explaining their comprehension of the ToR, and how they would approach the project, summarising the methodologies, software framework, and approaches they plan to use including a timeline (4) financial proposal outlining their expected fees for completing the development and implementation (5) references to similar implementations that could be contacted.

Please find the Terms of Reference for more information on the scope of work and applications procedures