Lord David Sainsbury, the British philanthropist behind Tanzania Gatsby Trust is here

Lord David Sainsbury

 Lord David Sainsbury, the British philanthropist behind Tanzania Gatsby Trust is in the country to look at some of the activities undertaken by his charitable trust.

Lord David Sainsbury of Turville, is the Founder of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and former Minister of Science in the UK Government, has been funding a number of programmes in Tanzania through the Tanzania Gatsby Trust since it was established 1992.

Sainsbury began his tour on Monday, April 30th and he will be reviewing  cooperative efforts between the charity and Government in promoting various Tanzanian economic sectors including cotton production, textile manufacturing and tea production.

TGT CEO Ms Olive Luena expressed her gratitude to Lord Sainsbury, saying that his generosity has enabled the trust to undertake poverty reduction and wealth creation initiatives that are important for economic growth.

Lord David Sainsbury  met His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete the President of the United Republic of Tanzania in 2007, after which he agreed to support the development of the cotton and textile sectors in

Tanzania.

Gatsby then contracted an expert team to complete a feasibility study that identified the constraints along the whole cotton and textile supply chain, and then worked with sector stakeholders to set up a series of interventions addressing these constraints. Gatsby has already committed approximately £8m to the CTDP over five years, and

The DFID has joined in with an extra funding of £7m to support the sector.

There is a focus on establishing contract farming as the marketing structure for Tanzania’s cotton sector. Contract farming has been trialled for three years before it was introduced across the whole sector in this season. It has been a major success this year, with over a quarter of a million farmers receiving inputs on credit.

Farmers have been very enthusiastic, and the Tanzania Cotton Association (TCA), representing the ginners, has expressed their support.

The cotton programme also includes offering training to farmers, and introducing weather insurance to protect farmers who take loans. The programme is also helping TCB to introduce improved cotton seed, and

it is promoting conservation agriculture among farmers to improve yields. The programme has also initiated a long-term research study to evaluate its impact on farmers, which will help the government to demonstrate the benefits that farmers have received from this initiative. 

The philosophy of the programme is that ultimately local institutions and stakeholders need to be able to guide and support the development of the sector. Contract farming is a good strategy for the sector at this stage of its development, but the sector needs to be able to evolve. To this end, at the request of the Minister of Agriculture, the programme has started a long-term process of providing technical assistance to the Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB) to building its institutional capacity.

Lord Sainsbury will be meeting His Excellency the President Dr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, and the Minister of Agriculture later this week. In those meetings he will stress the importance of upholding the rules of contract farming, so that farmers can continue to benefit from this initiative. He will point out that it is only fair that those ginners who benefit from the growth of the sector must also invest in its success.