Tanzania - Startup under 3 years old

Describe your project or startup in a few words

We assist livestock farmers minimize their feeding costs by offering them highly nutritional, affordable and quality silage. We also rescue cattle that have been terribly affected by drought and we provide workshop training to livestock farmers.

01.01 Describe your startup in more detail

We assist livestock farmers to minimize their feeding costs by providing them highly nutritional, affordable and quality silage. Silage is a high moisture content animal fodder that is also highly nutritional. We also conduct workshop training to livestock farmers to educate them about the benefits from the use of silage especially to diary producers and we also conduct workshops to farmers on how they can produce silage as an alternative revenue stream. Besides that we rescue cattle that have been damaged by drought and we provide them with Silage. Through this we aim to encourage livestock farmers to change from the traditional livestock farming methods and adopt the use of silage since is more sustainable and nutritious for the livestock and also discourage overgrazing and illegal herding practices in national parks, forests and games reserves because it causes more damage to the environment and harms the biodiversity.

01.02 What is the main problem you are trying to solve?

Lack of pastures during the dry season. It was a very tough moment when I visited the Simanjiro district in 2022. Drought had hit hard and approximately 62,000 cattle died from drought that year. As I was moving around I met a young boy he seemed to have lost hope of his cattle so I spoke to him and I offered to buy one of his cattle he initially didn’t want to sell it but I insisted to pay for it his concern was the cattle wasn’t going to make it. When I arrived back to Arusha everyone laughed at me for purchasing this “dying cow” . I called the Vet to look at her and he atleast had hope started feeding it and gave it the required vaccines. Then I started my research on how I can solve this problem that’s when I first came across with the term “Silage” in my search for expertise I met Jerry who has experience and expertise in silage production he guided me and that’s how our Journey began. I tested it on the cattle I bought it did wonders we are now expecting a calf.

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your startup provides (at least 3).

Silage is the end product of fermenting a high moisture crop (40% - 80% water) and storing the product is called ensiling. Ensiling fodder has been around a long time and now contributes over 50% of the nutrients for beef and dairy cattle production. Silage has several advantages as a mechanically harvested product. Silage has more nutrients preserved per hectare because there is less field loss. Silage is also less affected by weather damage because the forage does not lie in the field drying. The main objective of silage is to conserve the digestible fibre, protein and energy in the forage, and to maintain the protein in a form that can be utilized efficiently by the ruminant animal.

01.04 Please describe who exactly your startup’s product/service is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

Tanzania has the largest cattle population in Africa after Ethiopia with 37.9 Million cattle. A total of 7.8 Million households in Tanzania are involved agriculture, livestock and fisheries 2.7 million households which is 35% are engaged in livestock keeping. We are currently located in Arusha where 15% of the household population are involved in rearing livestock only and 66% are involved in both crop production and livestock keeping.

01.05 When was your company established?

2023-12-11

01.06 Are you already selling your product/service?

Yes

01.07 How many other owners are there within your startup?

0

01.08 Among the other owners, how many are female?

0

01.09 Please describe the profile of the other owners within your startup (skills, experience, etc.)

We are currently a sole proprietorship, However, we have a project consultant who is assisting and guiding us through the process of building our business and building our brand. Her name is Emily Allan a communications and content specialist based in Toronto, Canada. She holds a double BA in Political Science and Anthropology, and a Masters in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia (UBC) Vancouver. In 2013 she completed UBC’s Go Global program in Arusha, focused on community-based research and bio intensive agriculture. In 2016, she completed her Masters thesis research in Dar es Salaam.

01.10 If you have a website, a social media page (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin…), or app, please provide the link(s) here:

https://www.instagram.com/t_m_t_tanzania?igsh=MXBmYmY5eW50bzRnbw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

01.11 Which industry best describes your project?

l) Farming

02.01.01 My startup contributes to the No poverty goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification for my startup

We rescue cattle that have been affected by drought and we later give them back to their owners. In most cases these cattle are the primary source of income for the local farmers and when drought hits they lose some of the cattle. We also conduct workshops to train livestock farmers about the use of silage so they can increase their diary production which also results to more income. Not only that but we also train farmers to produce silage as an alternative revenue stream.

02.02.01 My startup contributes to the Zero hunger goal

3

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification for my startup

02.03.01 My startup contributes to the Good health and well-being goal

3

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification for my startup

02.04.01 My startup contributes to the Quality education goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification for my startup

02.05.01 My startup contributes to the Gender equality goal

3

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification for my startup

02.06.01 My startup contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification for my startup

02.07.01 My startup contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

3

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification for my startup

02.08.01 My startup contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

4

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification for my startup

02.09.01 My startup contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

2

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification for my startup

02.10.01 My startup contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

3

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification for my startup

02.11.01 My startup contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification for my startup

02.12.01 My startup contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

5

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification for my startup

When producing silage some of the raw materials that we use are waste remains from sugar factory therefore we consider that as circular economy because silage itself doesn’t produce waste.

02.13.01 My startup contributes to the Climate action goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification for my startup

From the activities we perform we are aiming to encourage the practice of Zero grazing and discouraging overgrazing because overgrazing has ecological ramifications which lead to degradation of the ecosystem which has become a problem in many parts of Tanzania. The research conducted by the University of Dar es salaam on effects of overgrazing in Tanzania found that there were significant difference in plant natural regeneration pattern among areas with different grazing.Moderately grazed areas had the highest plant species diversity complying with intermediate disturbance hypothesis. However, low tree species richness and lack of old aged stands in heavily grazed areas indicated the impacts of livestock grazing which contributed to preven-tion of trees to attain large size classes. The lowest regeneration potential in heavily grazed areas is an indication of unhealthy eco systems.

02.14.01 My startup contributes to the Life below water goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification for my startup

02.15.01 My startup contributes to the Life on land goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification for my startup

We also discourage illegal herding in national parks, forests and game reserves to protect the biodiversity. However, the lack of land use plans, and climate change may be the main reasons for the decrease of pastures and the scarcity of water in the respondent’s areas and, therefore, lead to livestock transgression into the parks and forests. We also plan to conduct shamba darasa to livestock farmers so as to have the understanding of the benefits of silage and encourage them to adopt this affordable feeding method which can be available through out the year they won’t have to worry about dry seasons.

02.16.01 My startup contributes to the Peace Justice and Strong Institutions goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.16.02 Peace Justice and Strong Institutions- Justification for my startup

02.17.01 My startup contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

4

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification for my startup

06.01 There are a large number of customers who already use a product/service very similar to the product/service we envision creating.

3

06.02 The product/service represents an entirely new type of product/service.

3

06.03 The product/service could be described as a new technology.

2

06.04 The product/service is an improvement on an existing product or service.

5

06.05 The product/service could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

4

06.06 The product/service responds to a demand or need that has not been satisfied by other products/services.

7 - Strongly Agree

06.07 The product/service is a new version of an old product/service.

4

06.08 Justification for my startup

Silage has been in existence for over the past 500 years. What we are currently doing is we are promoting its existence and spreading awareness because that’s what the society lacks. The society lacks awareness of the existence of this product which is extremely useful to them and other countries who are leading producers of milk such as India and the United States are using this product to increase milk production in their cattle.

06.09 Competitive Analysis

We compete with the traditional way of livestock farming which involves feeding livestock post harvest remains especially from maize and beans and also local gathering of green pastures. We also compete with hay producers and lastly pastoralist farmers who graze their livestock, but our competitive advantage is that Silage has more nutrients nutritional value and can retain high moisture content up to 60%. We also train our customers how to transition to silage feeding and we conduct regular site visits We also rescue cattle’s that have been damaged by drought We conduct Shamba darasa to spread awareness about Silage and ways they can benefit from the use of it.

11.05 Are you initiating actions within your community to promote the role of female entrepreneurs?