Short Term Training for Production of Export Vegetables

Agricultural professionals including university faculty and staff can play a significant role to provide short-term training to farmers in developing countries to enable these farmers to reach crop production and quality goals. CNFA is a USAID sponsored program that provides funding for volunteers to meet this need for short term training. In August 2009, CNFA organized such a training for the MIDAWE Vegetable Cooperative near Arusha, Tanzania whose members wished to improve their production practices and quality measures for baby corn, snow peas and French beans for export to the EU. Training objectives that were accomplished were: i) land preparation and planting, including appropriate seeding rates and spacing; ii) appropriate timing and application methods of fertilizer applications, and identify additional soil amendments as necessary; iii) best agronomic practices for each crop; iv) identify major pest problems and recommend areas for training and technical assistance; and v) work with CNFA program staff to identify local resources and opportunities to support the MIDAWE Cooperative project.