A Tanzanian woman is following her passion for farming and helping others succeed in agriculture thanks to Feed the Future.

Tanzanian entrepreneur Prakseda Melkior has forged her own path as a successful farmer and agricultural innovator in a country where smallholder farmers, particularly women, face significant environmental and financial challenges. Thanks to Feed the Future and her own initiative, Melkior has gone from farming novice to expert and now works to empower other smallholder farmers in her country.

Melkior loves everything about agriculture, and her passion for farming began as a child.

“I got interested in farming early. In 2000, when I was in third grade in my hometown of Rombo in the Kilimanjaro region, I started growing spinach in my backyard. I sold each bunch for 10 TZS [Tanzanian shillings, less than one American cent] and made a little money. This made me love farming,” Melkior said.

She went on to study agriculture at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania. When Melkior graduated in 2016, most of her classmates sought corporate salaried positions, even though the job market was not promising. (Starting salaries averaged between 570,000 and 1,000,000 TZS a month, or around $217-$382.) But Melkior felt an entrepreneurial itch and believed she could make more money as a self-employed grower.

“I craved the freedom and potential of being my own boss,” she explained.

Prakseda Melkior runs a thriving agricultural enterprise, producing crops for profit and empowering other smallholder farmers in Tanzania with training and support in farming techniques and new technology

Melkior set out to forge her own path and rented a small plot in Kilosa District. Cultivating tomatoes, peppers and bananas, she learned the ropes, honed her skills and gained farming experience. However, the realities of land, equipment and other startup costs were daunting. Melkior faced another major challenge — traditional watering methods consumed large amounts of fuel, costing her a staggering 5.4 million TZS ($2,065) over a year. Beside the fuel costs eating into her profits, “Hauling buckets of water and using flood irrigation from the nearby river every day wasn’t sustainable. I was frustrated with the never-ending hum of an old pumping water generator which guzzled down diesel like nobody’s business,” Melkior said.

In 2017, Melkior connected with a project in Tanzania sponsored by Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger initiative led by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Tanzania Mboga na Matunda project, the predecessor project of Kilimo Tija Project, provided Melkior with training in innovative farming techniques, irrigation methods and good agricultural practices.

The program even included business training and, later, consulting opportunities for Melkior. She trained over 650 individuals, including government extension officers who directly support farmers. One of her trainees attributed a 60 percent increase in his tomato harvest to Melkior’s guidance.

“The Kilimo Tija project has reached over 960 micro, small and medium enterprises, with investments of over $18 million, product sales exceeding $32 million, and the development of 650 new jobs in horticulture. This builds on the 2017 Mboga na Matunda project, continuing USAID’s efforts to strengthen Tanzania’s horticulture market systems,” said Judith Kitivo, USAID/Tanzania horticulture specialist. “We’re inspired and honored to see individuals like Prakseda grow from farmers to successful entrepreneurs, transforming many lives along the way.”

To help other Tanzanian smallholders, in 2021, Melkior and her husband founded Migeto, an agribusiness entity committed to community empowerment. Migeto offers training programs, greenhouse installations, consulting services and innovative irrigation solutions. In 2023, Migeto partnered with Feed the Future to spearhead the training of farmers in cost-effective, gas-powered irrigation technology, a method Melkior herself utilizes to reduce irrigation costs on her plots.

Diversifying her ventures, Melkior embarked on open-field cultivation with the support of Feed the Future. “Growing tomatoes in the open fields presented a new set of challenges. Relentless pests demanded constant vigilance, but with the technical support of USAID’s Kilimo Tija program and its collaborators, I was able to navigate these challenges and achieve a successful harvest in this new venture,” she said.

By December 2023, she had planted tomatoes on a 1.25-acre plot, yielding a gross profit exceeding 11 million TZS ($4,206) by March 2024. This success enabled her to expand her landholdings to seven acres, paving the way for a wider range of crops.

The future looks bright for Melkior, who was awarded a 10.6 million TZS ($3,927) by Feed the Future for the installation of a solar-powered irrigation system, a transformative initiative championed by Melkior herself. This new system will be used to irrigate her entire holding, slashing irrigation costs by 70 percent and unlocking new avenues for profitability.

“With this grant, we’ll be harnessing the power of the sun to irrigate our crops. It is a game-changer, allowing us to grow more, serve more customers and create more jobs in our community,” Melkior said.