Morogoro:
On February 17, 2025, the Mkuyuni Village in Morogoro District Council celebrated the launch of the Soma na Karafuu (“Learn with Cloves”) initiative. This innovative and transformative intervention combines educational and economic empowerment through agriculture while restoring the lost biodiversity in the Uluguru Mountains in the Morogoro region. Distinguished guests included Hon. Adam Malima, Regional Commissioner; Hon. David Silinde, Deputy Minister of Agriculture; and Hon. Deo Mwanyika, MP and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Industries, Trade, Agriculture, and Cooperatives.
This event marked a strategic partnership within the SAGCOT Centre Spice Value Chain. As part of the program, 8,110 clove seedlings, with a combined value of over 26 million Tanzanian shillings, were handed out to 811 Form One students across five secondary schools in the wards of Kinole, Mkuyuni, Tawa, Kiroka, and Matombo.
The initiative aims to alleviate financial barriers to education by promoting sustainable clove cultivation, which promises substantial economic returns for students and their families when they reach Form Four. At that stage, students may either continue to Form Five, pursue middle college, or transition into village life. Therefore, the initiatives assure those students to be free from any financial dependency to parents/guardians.
Regional Commissioner Hon. Adam Malima emphasized the importance of supporting clove farmers by eliminating middlemen and establishing direct trade connections with certified buyers. Hon. David Silinde discussed the government’s plan to regulate spice crop pricing, ensuring fair compensation for farmers. Hon. Deo Mwanyika highlighted the program’s potential to enhance students’ income prospects significantly and commended further for the scale-up of this initiative countrywide.
Dr. Mussa Ali Mussa, Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), noted the campaign’s broader impact on family income gain and regional development. Pascal Petro Gabriel, a participating student, expressed his enthusiasm for the support it provides for his education and future livelihood.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Hon. David Silinde, noted the government’s focus on the Building a Better Tomorrow (BBT) program and acknowledged cloves’ pivotal role in the National Development Vision 2050. Dr Hussein Mohamed Omar, Deputy Paramanet Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, further emphasized the strategic importance of spices like cloves in achieving long-term national goals. The Project is vital for environmental sustainability, education financing and creating youths in agriculture as envisioned in Building a Better Tomorrow – Youth in Agribusiness (BBT-YIA). The ministry promised to keep providing budgetary allocation for spices because the Morogoro region is among the big four regions for food baskets but also for export crops, particularly spices.
John Nakei, Acting Head of Cluster Development at SAGCOT Centre, stressed the campaign’s strategic importance, emphasizing its role in educational development and advancements in clove farming. “This initiative is part of a broader effort to focus on spice crops in the Morogoro region, aiming for transformative change as agreed in the Spice Strategic partnership established in 2024 under the chairship of Dr. Mussa Ali Mussa”, he added. Dr. Mussa is the Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS). Nakei further commented that the Office of the Regional Commissioner of Morogoro has been implementing strategies to conserve the environment and improve the local economy through spice farming, particularly cloves.
