Moringa Farming Project

This is a concept note, not a programme in operation. Nothing described below has been delivered. The hectares, the seedling numbers and the timeline are proposals, and they are published so that a potential partner can read the design.

Why Moringa, and why here

The proposal concerns Mkuranga and Rufiji districts in Pwani Region. ARF’s case rests on an agronomic argument: the coastal belt has soil and rainfall conditions that suit a narrow range of crops, which has left households in the region with limited options for anything commercially viable.

Moringa oleifera tolerates conditions that defeat other crops. The concept note describes it growing in temperatures between 22 and 48°C, surviving on less than 700 mm of rain a year, and doing well in poor, shallow, sandy and stony soils across a wide pH range. It notes that the plant has no serious pests or diseases, which reduces both risk and input cost for a smallholder.

The regional case

The concept note sets out the economic position it is responding to, citing the 2022 Tanzania Census and National Bureau of Statistics data. Pwani Region had a population of 2,024,947, roughly double the 1,098,668 recorded in 2012. The region has among the lowest regional GDP and per-capita figures in the country, with a poverty rate of 26%.

It also notes the pace of industrial growth in the region since 2015 — more than 100 medium to large-scale industries constructed in Mkuranga, Bagamoyo and Kibaha over eight years, according to Mkuranga District Council statistics — and argues that large-scale tree planting is one way to offset the environmental consequences.

These are figures quoted in ARF’s concept note from 2022 census and district sources. They describe the position at that time.

How the programme would work

The design has two phases. The first is block farming: households are identified, registered and supported to cultivate Moringa on their own land, with ARF providing seedlings and technical expertise. The second is large-scale cultivation, with ARF establishing its own plantation.

Phase one is divided into three stages — an inception period of around six months, implementation over roughly sixteen months, and then scaling up. The inception stage is where the groundwork happens: identifying the management structure, analysing stakeholders and beneficiaries, assessing gender dimensions and training gaps, establishing a demonstration farm of around ten hectares for farmer training, and conducting the baseline studies the later evaluation will measure against.

The numbers in this proposal are targets

• Approximately 1,000 hectares at large scale in Mkuranga — a Phase 2 target, not an area under cultivation
• A demonstration farm of approximately 10 hectares — proposed for the inception stage
• 100,000 Moringa seedlings — ARF’s proposed contribution to block farmers, not a distribution record

Sustainability and handover

The proposal is unusually explicit about its own ending. Moringa farming is described as a lifetime investment and the programme is envisaged over roughly a decade — but ARF proposes to lead implementation for five years before transitioning the programme to the Mkuranga and Rufiji district councils.

The staffing plan follows the same logic, drawing extension officers from the district councils’ agriculture departments so that the capacity remains in local government when ARF steps back.

What is not published

The concept note contains a budget, and it anticipates revenue from carbon markets. Neither appears on this site.

The budget is a request. It is not money raised, approved or spent, and presenting a funding request as a programme budget would misrepresent the Foundation’s finances. Carbon revenue requires a methodology, a baseline, a measurement and verification approach, a recognised standard, a registry, and a clear position on ownership and permanence — none of which the concept note supplies. The document also makes health claims for the plant which are not reproduced here.