Strengthening sustainable rice partnerships in Tanzania

In Mbarali and Katavi, iCRA worked with Rikolto Tanzania and 360 Connect to bring rice farmers, buyers, and service providers together. They formed nine local agribusiness clusters and agreed on practical steps to improve how they work together.

Rice offers important opportunities for farmers and businesses in Tanzania. Farmers need reliable buyers, affordable inputs, and access to finance. Buyers need rice of consistent quality and a reliable supply. When farmers sell individually and businesses and service providers plan separately, it’s harder to meet those needs.

Bringing the rice value chain together

An agribusiness cluster brings farmers, buyers, and service providers together around a shared business opportunity. Members identify problems they can tackle together, agree on priorities, and decide who will do what.

In Madibila, in Mbarali District, 51 people joined a planning workshop in May 2026. Working with the Madibila Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (MAMCOS), they formed six clusters, one for each irrigation canal, and drew up a shared action plan. Priorities included improving access to fertilizer, reducing postharvest losses, and finding reliable buyers.

In Katavi, 33 people took part in a similar workshop in September and October. They included farmers from five irrigation schemes, buyers, input suppliers, and government representatives. Participants formed three clusters around local buyer Flamingo Foods and developed an action plan for each. They selected the Mnyaghala–Mwamkulu cluster to pilot a collective sale to Flamingo Foods.

Investing in local expertise

In January 2026, 30 facilitators and partner staff took part in a training in Mbeya. Through role-play and a field visit, they practiced bringing farmers, buyers, and service providers into the same conversation and helping them agree on priorities. A second training in Iringa brought together 54 participants, including 32 local coaches. The coaches practiced helping cluster members plan together, negotiate agreements, and track progress. Their role is to help members follow through on the plans they made at the workshops.

What comes next

By October 2026, the nine clusters had agreed on their priorities and set them out in four action plans. The next step is to put those plans into practice, support coaches as they work with the clusters, and follow up on opportunities with buyers. As the clusters develop, monitoring will show whether this collaboration helps farmers reach more reliable markets, improve productivity, or earn more from rice.