EAU CLAIRE - October 16, 2025

Parts One and Two of this blog were previously posted. They focused on problems farmers face in Tanzania as a result of a nonexistent food processing sector there. Poverty is rampant because farmers in rural Karagwe raise robust crops with next to no mechanization, bring them to overcrowded markets, and are exploited by others who refuse to pay fair market value. Five communities in Karagwe asked for ETI’s help in establishing a food processing industry. They want to have a place to sell their robust crops, increase their incomes, and provide nutritious juices and foods for their families, communities, and beyond.

This blog entry: “The Ticket to Prosperity in Tanzania is Food Processing: Part III”, focuses on our progress as we establish a food processing plant. ETI and partners are 40% done, fully committed, and eager to realize the vision. 

ACTION

Once the need is clear, and communities have shared their insights about how the needs could be met, ETI takes action. Below is an outline of our work, milestones accomplished, and goals set. These are all couched in the vision of a transformed tomorrow that benefits Tanzanian farmers. Now is the time to lift up the communities of Karagwe.  

HOW WE ARE BRINGING FOOD PROCESSING TO KARAGWE

1.      ETI partnered with the University of Minnesota, and surveyed 200+ people from five communities. “Help us build a place to process our robust crops into value-added products.”    Food Processing is top priority.

2.      Built on local solutions, a case statement was created that focused on the envisioned outcomes of the food processing plant. FURSA is “Opportunity” in Swahili.

3.      Partner, Bruce Engel, award-winning architect at BE Design, NY, worked with Karagwe Diocese Management Team and residents to design a practical and efficient processing plant, inspired by local, traditional, Tanzanian architecture.  

4.      Partnership and hard work resulted in renderings that all partners approved.

5.      Geotechnical assessments confirmed site selection, adjacent to KARUCO and the main road.

6.      The site was cleared, blessed and construction began.

 7.      Construction continues.

CURRENTLY                                                                       AS OF OCTOBER 22, 2025

The food processing plant is 40% complete. ETI needs $400,000. USD to finish the work, and another $280,000 for machines.

Once complete, the plant will:

1.      be a hub to process crops into value-added products;

2.      provide increased incomes for area farmers and KARUCO;

3.      ensure fair pricing, gender equity, and fair trade;

4.      improve efficiency and reduce crop waste; and

5.      improve community health and nutrition.

ETI has a 15-year history of success, milestones, accountability and sustainability. We are not about to stop. We are building upon previous successes to bring economic and social prosperity to NW Tanzania. Won’t you help us today?

                                                              Be part of the story.

We reflected upon and are taking a deeper dive into ETI’s most recent blog that focused on the overview and need for farmers in the Karagwe District of NW Tanzania to have a food processing plant. The conclusion was that Karagwe needs a place to bring their amazingly robust, hearty and flavorful crops to be preserved and made into value-added products. Take a look below at the photo sampling of Karagwe’s crops.

It is not rocket science to see that the fruit and vegetable crops in Karagwe look amazing. Some say they are of the best on the planet. All three authors of this post were raised in rural settings, and understand the critical importance of yield and harvest quality. Here is what we know for sure: If Karagwe’s farmers had a food processing plant, they would supply the plant with these amazing crops. Family incomes would rise and families could afford medicine and education. Food security would be strengthened and community nutrition and health would improve. Crop waste would be reduced. Prosperity would not be just a dream but would be reality for the Karagwe District and the surrounding area of 1.5 million people.

As those of you who have been to Karagwe can attest, the current situation is far from that reality.  Instead, Karagwe farmers – mostly women - work day in and day out on small farm plots: Women farmers like Edina. Edina does her best to battle the insects, pests, heat and drought with nothing more than her determination and her trusty hoe. If you want to see an extreme of what Edina is up against, feel free to search “Qualea bird” (or “Africa’s feathered locust”) and imagine its impact on agriculture.  Despite the harsh conditions, Edina grows enough food to feed her family of seven. She grows beans to provide protein since she cannot afford to raise cattle. She grows fruits and vegetables and has enough raw products to sell at the local market. But the market is bleak, and she longs for a viable outlet for her hard-earned harvests.

The pineapple crop has started to turn yellow which suggests it is time to harvest. Edina smells the base and knows that the pineapple is ripening. She knows that it is important to bring her pineapples to market at peak ripeness since they don’t ripen well after harvest and will last only a couple of days without refrigeration. She begins the harvest and plans to bring her crop to market the next day. The window is small. Some say it is tiny.

Edina’s harvest knife – her kisu - is exceptionally sharp and effective at severing the stem just below the base. She learned to use a sharpening stone and a kisu as a child and is proud of her efficiency in using this basic tool. She avoids the crown that tears at her hands, and she continues until all the ripe pineapples are harvested. Pineapples bruise easily so she is careful as she gets them ready to go.  

She loads 17 pineapples in her head basket. Her children can carry the rest in theirs. It’s been a long day and she is eager to rest her head.  She is exhausted but fills her children’s bellies with wali na maharagwe – rice and beans – before she lies down on her mat with her youngest child. She sleeps soundly and is awakened very early by the roosters who roam outside. She and her elder daughters ready the children for the journey to market.  

Edina walks the 4 miles to the local market with as much produce as she can carry. Her children miss school and do the same.  They are passed by other farmers who are fortunate enough to have a bicycle loaded with their tasty crops or the really fortunate who can afford a motorcycle or hire shared space on a truck. She tries not to resent them passing her. They are her neighbors after all.

When Edina arrives at the market, she is happy to see her friends – other women in the community who are in the same situation, except for Neema who must neglect her fieldwork to care for her ailing husband and mother. Neema’s crop is small, and she will struggle to sell much of it. Edina greets her friends and arranges her produce on the ground next to them and their children. She enjoys the bustle and energy and gets to work in the overcrowded market, hoping against hope that buyers see that her crop is best. She grew her pineapple in a plot that is partially shaded from the blazing sun. During the drought she and her children were exhausted but made a 3-mile extra trip each day to fetch water just for the pineapple. Hers were clearly more robust. She feels sorry for Neema.

A buyer she recognizes shows interest in her pineapples and wants 10 or 15.  They barter starting at 1500 Tanzanian schillings (Tsh) - about 58 cents USD. The buyer engages in a vigorous debate over price and after two or three offers threatens to walk away. He has forced Edina’s hand until the sale is finalized at 800 Tsh (31 cents) for each pineapple. Edina sells 15 of her 28 pineapples for a whopping 12,000 Tsh or $4.65.  This is difficult to even imagine for those of us who would pay fifteen times that much at our local grocery store for the same number of pineapples. Edina feels the mixed emotions of relief, satisfaction and disappointment with the sale.  Can you imagine what life would be like if your family were in Edina’s shoes? Can you imagine making 1/15th of what you earn now? We can’t help but admire Edina’s resolve and determination to feed her family and lift herself out of poverty.

Edina stays at the market for 2 more days selling her crop. She looks around at the appalling waste as farmers’ harvests start to rot.  Everyone Edina knows walks their crop to market. She knows no one with transportation, except a couple of neighbors with bicycles and one with access to a truck. She knows there is no refrigeration, and fear sets in as the market is overcrowded with all the same crops. As usual, brokers descend upon the market and offer Edina a pittance for her remaining produce. She knows they will sell her pineapples to processing plants and make a healthy profit. The presence of the “middlemen” as she calls them, makes her sad. But she sells. How many times has she sold to a middleman for next to nothing. Many times.

“Is it true?” she wonders. “Will communities outside of Karagwe pay good money for processed products that are grown here?” Her thoughts wander as she contemplates the wide range of crops grown - banana, beans, coffee, pineapple, cassava and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. But Edina knows that she has no way for her hearty crops to reach those communities. The food processing sector in Tanzania is nearly nonexistent.

Edina knows that a food processing plant is not a panacea, and does not eliminate the need for raw pineapple markets. There are consumers, especially locally, who hope to purchase raw pineapple, slice it manually and serve to one’s family or cafe customers. Edina has friends with open road-side market stands and knows that these will continue to meet a need of the community’s residents for raw produce. But she is convinced that a food processing facility will bring a better price for farmers such as herself. With an accessible plant in the vicinity, there will be a more secure landing pad for her crops and a standardized way to set a fair price for her commodities rather than the current system of the exploitative buyers dictating what she earns. She is hopeful.

THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER IS:

The farmers in the Karagwe District of NW Tanzania produce some amazingly hardy, nutritious, robust, and tasty crops and need a place to process and sell their harvests. Karagwe needs a food processing plant.

The people of Karagwe are exceedingly generous and I’m always tickled to score a pineapple at the church auction or various produce when I visit a small shareholder farm. Each morning, I wish I could bottle the Tanzanian coffee from the ELCT Karagwe Hotel for my morning cuppa after I return to Minnesota. In our early years, Tom Herrmann, Director on the first ETI Board, imported Peaberry beans from Tanzania, had them roasted in batches in Minneapolis and gave them to ETI supporters. I miss those days. Our galas smelled like heaven. I know from the response of the ETI Teams that travel to Karagwe with me, that the fruits and vegetables there are some of the best on the planet.

The global world would love access to products from Tanzania: Karagwe’s delicious pineapple, mango, guava, banana, tomato, cassava, maize, coffee, and ground nuts to name a few. These raw crops present wonderful experiences for the palette, and hold such potential to make juices, dried fruits, canned foods and more. But Tanzania does not yet have a way to create value-added products, to extend the very short shelf-lives of their crops, nor a way to earn income from markets outside their communities. There is a stunning gap in food processing.

Tanzania’s ability to meet the demand for food and the growing demand for more diverse food products is thwarted by the country’s nearly nonexistent food processing sector. Meanwhile, farmers work all day under the hot sun with hand hoes to plant, cultivate and harvest their crops. They endure floods with no drainage, droughts with no irrigation, and pests and weeds with no insecticides or herbicides. They persist. They endure. They work day in and day out and grow enough raw product that would keep food processing plants in business.

But because there are no processing plants, they bring their crops to local markets. Transportation means walking the 10-20 kilometers to market, or if you’re lucky, biking or hiring a space on a truck or wagon. With no access to outside markets, the markets are overcrowded and attractive to “middlemen” who are ready to scoop up the harvests and pay next to nothing. Most farmers end up being exploited while their hard-earned harvests are sold for a pittance, given away, or discarded. The crop wastage is enormous. Farmers are demoralized. Months of toil without the hoped-for success and reward. Families remain impoverished. In time, communities struggle to provide food and turn to importing from elsewhere which is expensive. Partners in Food Solutions CEO, Mandla Nkomo (2024), and Bloomberg (2023) reported that Tanzania imports $850 million in food products per year while Africa, as a continent, imports $60 billion. It is clear and disturbing that Tanzania does not have a strong and reliable food processing sector.

Tanzania needs a strong and reliable food processing sector.

Educate Tanzania, Inc. (ETI) is doing its level-best to make that happen.

ETI is a Minnesota-based nonprofit with a 15-year history of transformation in Karagwe. Our mission is to partner with developing communities in Tanzania to promote and sustain economic and social prosperity through education.

We are a professional volunteer NGO and along with our partners, we:

1)   helped establish KARUCO College of Agriculture on 1000 acres in Karagwe (accredited with hands-on curricula, full campus, farm plots, livestock and labs);

2)   funded 40,000 volumes for the campus media center;

3)   helped design and fund the KARUCO Impact Research Study, which showed great success at the college;

4)   designed and funded the 25kW Solar Array and Battery Storage that powers up the campus;

5)   provided funds for the solar-powered CCTV and streetlights;

6)   funded Micro-Enterprise Loans (MELs) to startup businesses in Agriculture with loan repayments that are utilized to start up new businesses;

7)   funded the MEL House – to provide lodging for owners of new businesses and provide a business incubator hub;

8)   provided assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic (PPE, respirators, sanitary stations; a temporary mortuary that later became a maternity ward);

9)   are currently in Phase III of construction of Project FURSA – the food processing plant (trusses and roofing). We could use your support to complete the plant.

ETI’s track record and milestones have provided the foundation for our current work as we help establish a reputable, efficient and profitable food processing plant in Karagwe. To that end ETI partnered with BE Design Architects of New York, traveled to Tanzania together, and collaborated with KAD on the design of Project FURSA (Opportunity in Swahili). KAD hired Elgoodness Civil, the construction crew, an engineering firm and a food processing consultant to carry out the work. BE Design and the BE Design crew in Rwanda oversee Project FURSA, ensuring that all construction meets international standards of architecture.

ETI and her partners are in Phase III of construction - roofing and trusses.

Once built, the plant will increase incomes, ensure fair trade for women and marginalized groups, reduce crop waste, and improve nutrition in the community, especially for children. Through Project FURSA - the food processing plant – ETI is helping pave the way for job creation, advanced training, global market access, economic growth and family stability. There is no reason for a food processing gap in Tanzania and no reason for her people to remain impoverished. You are invited to help change this reality. 

As mentioned, FURSA means “OPPORTUNITY” in Swahili. FURSA is the name that the residents of Karagwe chose for the food processing plant. ETI embraced the name and launched planning and construction. A business plan, created by KAD and reviewed by many, is on file. Architectural drawings, geotechnical assessments, renderings, and hiring of crews is complete. Construction is well underway and currently in Phase III – focused on trusses and roofing.

Of the 1.5 million U.S. nonprofits, ETI is in the top 1%. If you donate to nonprofits, ours would be honored to be the steward of your gifts. Thank you for considering ETI.

References

Nkomo, Mandla (2024, Aug 23). Africa’s food processing sector holds the key to a food-secure and prosperous continent. CNBC Africa. https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2024/africas-food-processing-sector-holds-the-key-to-a-food-secure-and-prosperous-continent/

Bloomberg. (2023, Jan 24). Africa needs up to 65 billion in loans yearly to curb food imports. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-24/africa-needs-up-to-65-billion-loans-yearly-to-curb-food-imports?embedded-checkout=true

We hope you like the fresh look and increased functionality of the site including more options to process your online donations. We apologize for the inconvenience of having to re-enter payment details and hope that you’ll find the new site will improve your online experience. For more information on the website, read on.

Why Change?

We like to keep things fresh. Fresh stories. New faces. Bright photos. Compelling content. The amazing Eric Johnson of HardlyNeutral heads up our tech team with his donations of hundreds and hundreds of hours to ETI. He merges his passion for people with his expertise in web development: That is to see to it that people with less have a chance to enjoy a life with more. Stability. Knowing that there is enough food, a solid shelter, education and medicine. Since 2011, Eric has donated his expertise to help ETI tell its story and highlight the lives

Why Change the Payment Processor? When ETI began in 2010, PayPal was the payment processor of choice because we could accept donations globally. Donors in Europe and elsewhere could donate via our site. But currently, other processors offer more options. Our new site utilizes Squarespace which allows you to pay with any credit card, Apple Pay, digital wallets, PayPal and Venmo to mention most. Please contact us if you want us to verify your chosen method of payment:

Enjoy your Visit.  ETI donor support has helped Educate Tanzania:

·       expand solar powered security lighting at KARUCO College.

·       provide CCTV security at the college entrances.

·       jump-start nine new businesses through the Micro -Enterprise Loan program.

·       build the MEL House business incubator hub and lodging MEL recipients.

·       construct phases I-III of the Food Processing Plant that will raise incomes in Karagwe and provide family stability to the 1.5 million people there.

Moreover, you have helped us maintain our ranking in the top 1% of U.S. nonprofits.

We hope you enjoy ETI’s fresh new look and will stick with us as we give a hand up to our neighbors in Tanzania.

While in Karagwe in January, 2024 I met with KARUCO staff and students who shared with me that they want to build a "MEL House". Principal Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Ngambeki explained that the MEL House would be a business incubator hub that would 1) house MEL Program beneficiaries who need lodging in Karagwe and would 2) provide space where business entrepreneurs could share ideas, encourage each other and provide momentum to budding businesses in Karagwe. It iwill be a place of synergy, hope and realistic accountability.

The MEL House idea came about when KARUCO grads who were MEL Program beneficiaries realized they had nowhere to live after graduation from KARUCO. Jessca Domician and her baby lived far away from her husband so that she could earn money through the Pig Production business that she proposed. The Micro-Enterprise Loan (MEL) Program funded her business and she was on her way. But the price she paid was living apart from her family. She remains motivated to do so but suggested that the MEL House could help house KARUCO grads and MEL recipients who live away from their families in order to begin their entrepreneurial business and earn income for their families.

The ETI Board of Directors approved funding in March of 2024 and six months later, the MEL House was built. KARUCO hopes to raise more funds to provide furniture, solar power and other amenities.

The MEL House was named after the late Mel Breed, ETI Board Emeritus and friend to Karagwe.