The project “Agriculture and food security in the Namtumbo district", financed with 8x1000 Irpef (State) funds, offers young people of both sexes, aged between 18 and 35, from the Ruvuma region, the opportunity to attend intensive residential courses at the CRAS Agricultural Training Centre (started in 2009 by COPE), lasting two months and relating to agricultural, livestock and micro-entrepreneurship issues, and then continue to be supported technically and financially, through monitoring by the training team, attendance at short refresher courses and access to a revolving micro-credit fund. The courses have a particularly practical focus, and 40% of the training activities take place in the field. The classes are made up of a maximum of 30 students, in order to guarantee an optimal relationship between teacher and student, and a correct transmission of knowledge. and techniques promoted. The contents of the courses were designed in collaboration by CO.P.E. agronomists and professors and experts from the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro and the Ministry of Agriculture Training Institute in Uyole (Mbeya), which currently represent the two most important agricultural training institutions at national level. The approach chosen for the training is Peer education, as the team of trainers is composed of nine field agents, who have a secondary education. These trainers were chosen based on their previous experience in the agricultural field (all were engaged in small-scale agro-zootechnical activities). The team of field agents is coordinated by an agronomist engineer. The entire team follows a continuous training path, in various national institutions (including the aforementioned Sokoine University of Agriculture). Now that the time has come, there is a growing demand for more complete training that provides the possibility of employment in large agro-industrial groups operating in Tanzania. This type of training lasts three years and is recognized and publicly certified by the VETA office (Vocationl Educational and Training Authority). In the entire Ruvuma region, only three centers are authorized to issue the VETA certification in agriculture and livestock, two of which are located in the Namtumbo district. The CRAS Center is the most experienced among these, being the first to have been authorized to issue this certification. A section of the Center is dedicated to organic agriculture and the cultivation of medicinal plants. The goal is to strengthen training in animal husbandry and the animal husbandry and prophylaxis service for local breeders, by opening a veterinary analysis laboratory with an adjacent stable. The primary objective of the Center is to improve the economic opportunities of the local population by promoting employment for young people in the district in the agricultural and livestock sector, and thus reduce the tendency of the progressive abandonment of rural areas, especially by the younger age groups. The action is divided into five axes of intervention:
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The construction and equipment of a pilot company for production and permanent training: identification of suitable sites for construction, the water network, experimental fields and agro-pastoral production fields; construction and equipment of the center, the agro-pastoral annexes, the arrangement of the land used for training and production.
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The start of agro-zootechnical production and the marketing of products. A section was dedicated to experimental crops that include organic cultivation and medicinal plants.
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The start of training courses: 2-month intensive residential courses and short refresher/follow-up courses for farmers and young people in the district. Technical and professional training is aimed at young farmers between 18 and 35 years of age, to facilitate their socio-economic integration into the local reality through the improvement of knowledge in the agro-zootechnical sector.
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Technical and financial support: technical through monitoring activities in the target villages, aimed at ensuring the correct implementation of the techniques learned during the training courses; financial through the creation of a revolving micro-credit fund for the benefit of small farmers and/or agricultural cooperatives who want to start profitable activities.
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Awareness-raising: through information, communication, education actionson environmental issues (meetings with schools, evenings of theatrical animation in the villages, radio broadcasts, meetings of NGOs and local associations).
Local counterparts are:
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Archdiocese of Songea, the main local partner of COPE, which provided the land on which the CRAS Centre stands and provides visas for expatriate staff. Furthermore, the Archdiocese is directly involved in the management and coordination of the activities as a member of the administrative board of the Center.
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Tanzanian Warehouse Licensing Board (TWLB), a Tanzanian body responsible for the implementation of refresher courses on the Warehouse Receipt System for teachers and the direct provision of micro-credit to the associated farmers.
There are also relevant institutional actors The following institutional actors are continuously involved in consultancy activities, training trainers and supplying local experts:
- Namtumbo District,
- Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro,
- Ministry of Agriculture Training Institute in Uyole (Mbeya),
- Tanzanian Warehouse Licensing Board.
The project is approaching the end of its annual activities. "This project is funded by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with the eight per thousand Irpef fund donated by citizens to direct state management for the year 2016"
