Reaping everything you sow in Tanzania

2019

start collaboration

2,500

farmers reached

6.5 mln

kilos of food produced

2x

higher yields

5x

higher income

The challenge

Smallholder farmers are responsible for 75% of Tanzania’s GDP, but they still don’t earn enough to support their own families. That’s mainly because of post-harvest losses: at least 48% of their produce goes to waste. Why? Poor infrastructure, agricultural methods, storage and processing, which causes their fruits and vegetables to spoil quickly after harvest. Farmers also lack easy access to markets, and are forced to deal with expensive wholesalers who charge up to 75% of their income. That means smallholder farmers don’t earn near enough from the produce that does make it to market before spoiling.

“With our farmers, we want to become the largest supplier of food products. ”

EA Fruits innovates and reinforces the value chain

The social enterprise EA Fruits helps Tanzanian farmers deal with all the challenges they and their produce face. With their help, post-harvest losses are decreasing dramatically, and farmers are managing to earn more money.

EA Fruits:

trains farmers in better agricultural methods so that they can produce more fruit and vegetables, increase the quality of their produce, and reduce post-harvest losses;

brings farmers into contact with microfinancing organizations and insurers, so that they can expand their farms;

buys produce for a good price to eliminate the need for expensive wholesalers, ensuring a better income for the farmers;

collects produce close to the farms, processes them, stores them in coolers and distributes them with refrigerated trucks, which dramatically reduces losses after harvest;

connects farmers to buyers via a website to coordinate supply and demand to give farmers a guaranteed sales market and higher income.

In short, EA Fruits reinforces the entire value chain for food production in Tanzania; from growing fruit and vegetables to processing and storage, and on to the sale and distribution of their produce. With lower losses after harvest and a stronger value chain, farmers can increase their incomes and improve their families’ lives.

EA Fruits' impact in 2020

2,500 farmers assisted by EA Fruits

6.5 million kilos of food produced

3,190 customers served

EA Fruits aims to reach 10,000 farmers in 2025

2x higher yields for farms

5x higher income for participating farmers

Rabo Foundation and EA Fruits

Thanks to a loan in 2019, EA Fruits was able to expand its operations and collaborate with more farmers. With the help of a second loan in 2020 and 2021, EA Fruits invested in coolers and refrigerated trucks to store food for longer after harvest. In 2021, EA Fruits aims to help a total of 3,500 farmers; 1,000 more than in 2020.

We have partnered with EA Fruits because their mission and vision are completely in line with our own. They strive to reduce post-harvest losses and to strengthen the value chain; two impact goals that we also share to improve the lives of smallholder farmers.