Onion growers in Morogoro’s Mkata village to earn over 1bn/-

REGROW through the Community Conservation Bank (COCOBA), a financial scheme aiming to economically empower communities surrounding national parks, supported the farmers through their group—Tushikamane.

Briefing journalists who visited the village recently to see the various activities implemented by villagers with support from the REGROW project, Chairman of the group, Daniel Gaspar said: “We started by cultivating a few acres as a pilot; we will cultivate more than five acres this year. We expect to earn 200m/- from each acre.

Gaspar commended the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism for coming up with the COCOBA program where apart from being provided with the funds; they were also trained on entrepreneurship skills, modern agricultural methods and financial literacy which included personal financial management, budgeting, and investing.

The Ministry’s Deputy Project Coordinator, Blanka Tengia said the strategic project, which is funded by the World Bank aims to promote tourism in the southern circuit, improve the management of attractions and increase villager’s income.

It involves villages bordering the Southern Highlands national parks, namely Ruaha, Mikumi, Udzungwa and Nyerere.