Leaders (with green jackets) and some of the farmers in a group picture ready to receive farm inputs during the climax of celebrating Farmer’s Day at Nyansurumunti village in Serengeti district on July 2, 2025. (Picture: Sauti ya Mara)
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By Lake Zone Watch Writer
July 2, 2025 was a unique day for hundreds of Serengeti district farmers in Mara region when they gathered at Nyansurumunti village in Kisaka ward to celebrate Farmer’s Day.
It was a memorable day which brought together men and women of nearby villages and wards not only to participate in the celebrations but also to remind them of their collective responsibility in building their nation.
That was the day the farmers praised the non-profit organisation, Global Communities, for implementing the Pamoja Tuwalishe programme, a community-led school feeding model supporting schools and communities to operationalize the National School Feeding Guidelines (NSFG) in support of the government priority to improve learning outcomes and childhood nutrition.
The farmers said the programme was a rescuer in that it has empowered them increase production and become self-sufficient in food apart from uplifting their economic wellbeing.
Through the Pamoja Tuwasilishe project, funded by an American entrepreneur, Rick Steves, farmers are taught innovative practices of modern and sustainable agriculture of various crops such as maize, sunflower and beans.
They are provided with necessary farm inputs such as fertilisers, insecticides and better seeds.
“There are huge achievements in our farming activities ranging from the use of inputs to the skills gained under the Pamoja Tuwalishe programme,” says Janet Bhoke Mwita, a farmer at Nyiboko village.
Demonstration farms owned by Umoja wa Vijana of Nyansurumunti village planted with maize, sunflower and beans under the supervision of experts and support from Pamoja Tuwalishe programme and SEED CO, have attracted many villagers to form farmer- groups in order to acquire the knowledge from the ambitious scheme.
A villager at Nyansurumunti, Juma Limbu, acknowledges that if it were not for the demonstration farms, he wouldn’t boast of having seen quality maize seeds able to produce 20 bags in a hectare.
“Global Communities through the Pamoja Tuwasilishe programme and SEED CO. have opened our eyes to see light at the end of the tunnel,” he confides.
On her part, Rhoda Deus Marwa, another farmer and resident of Kisaka ward,, commends the Pamoja Tuwalishe programme for imparting to them modern methods of crop husbandry.
“We’ve been taught the correct use of fertilisers and how to tend crop to maximise output,” she says.
Many farmers interviewed on the achievements of the project, said farm productivity had tripled bringing hope of food-self-sufficiency. The driving factor, they said, is knowledge gained from the implementation of the Pamoja Tuwalishe scheme.
The success story is aptly summed by Ibra Mwita, a young farmer who says he never knew that agriculture is science.
“For many years, we practised the old methods of farming here not knowing that agriculture is all about science,” he explains.
“I thank our stakeholders from Pamoja Tuwalishe and SEED CO for empowering us towards adopting modern agricultural methods.”
For his part, Bwenda Bainga, the Serengeti Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Officer who was guest of honour at the Farmer’s Day ceremony, urged the farmers who have acquired the new skills to be a living example to others who lack knowledge of the modern ways of farming.
He appealed to Global Communities and SEED CO to continue spearheading acquisition of knowledge by farmers to improve agriculture in their own localities.
”The government and sponsors use huge financial resources to train farmers and to run demonstration farms. It’s the duty of those who have acquired this knowledge to spread it to others to improve their wellbeing,” he explained.
He reminded agricultural experts at the village and ward levels to urge farmers to register for the government fertiliser subsidy programme.
He used the occasion to appeal to parents to donate food stuffs to schools to improve the learning environment for children.
Speaking at the same venue, a Community Development Officer from Global Communities, Hilary Dashina, said the thrust of the Pamoja Tuwalishe programme is to improve food security at the family level.
He said the aim of the project is to ensure that every farmer adopts modern farming methods for increased productivity.
With headquarters in the national capital, Dodoma, Global Communities, through its Pamoja Tuwalishe project has so far reached out to 800 farmers in Butiama na Musoma districts in Mara region and 500 farmers in Tarime and Serengeti districts, according to Dashina.
“It’s a prestige to see a farmer rising from poverty and hunger to becoming self-reliant in food production and having a reliable income,” he said.
Mbayani Terito, the SEED CO Marketing Officer, said his firm has been collaborating with the Pamoja Tuwalishe programme to distribute farm inputs, fertilisers and quality seeds to farmers to revolutionise their agriculture.
The climax of the Farmer’s Day was concluded with the donation of fertiliser and quality seeds, T-shirts and certificates on soil testing to groups of farmers.
The farm inputs and T-shirts were donated by Global Communities through the Pamoja Tuwalishe and SEED CO as part of mobilising the farmer groups to increase productivity.
Present at the ceremony were Butiama District Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Officer, Fred Kisika, Global Communities agriculture expert, Dr. Amithay Kuhanda and the Community Development Officer and Coordinator of Farm Groups in Serengeti district, Hungila Michael, among others.
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