To date, ASARECA has invested US$ 14.4 million to catalyse agricultural transformation in Tanzania through key beneficiary projects. Through these projects 5.933 million beneficiaries were reached, 11,549 stakeholders were trained, and 1,300 ha of land were brought under improved TIMPs. The following are highlights of the projects undertaken:

Controlling the spread of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW)

ASARECA supported researchers from Tanzania to promote proven and cost-effective measures to control the deadly BXW epidemic that threatened to wipe out the banana crop in the country. In Muleba district, researchers deployed disease eradication approaches, including propagation of clean planting materials and trained farmers on how to detect and control the disease. Since then, the committees monitor the compliance of households to control measures. Within six months of adoption, BXW prevalence reduced from over 90% to less than 5%, while the proportion of farmers who controlled the disease increased from less than 5% to over 60%. After 15 months, banana production recovered from zero percent in some places to over 80% Standards are anticipated to stimulate the emergence of value addition and processing initiatives for both the local and export markets