Rikolto in East Africa

Transforming food systems was the key theme at Mount Meru Hotel, Arusha, on 7 December 2017, where the new Rikolto brand was launched. Rikolto is the Esperanto word for ‘harvest’ and the Rikolto team committed to enable farmers to experience good harvests and to ensure great new ideas and solutions are harvested in order to improve food systems.

Colleague Jasmine Mushi, Agribusiness Advisor, shares the story of MUVIKHO, a Tanzanian cooperative of fruit and vegetable farmers which has grown from nothing to over 700 farmers in 4 years time, and now generates sales of over US$ 210,000 each year.

Indeed was unforgettable experience to most cyclists that will ever be told. Spending every single day of their time cycling, visiting VECO East Africa project, chatting with farmers, observing the natural and cultural beauty of the wilderness and sometimes encountering or standing face to face with wild animals like baboons and zebras

Just until recently 63 year old Emmanuel Mushi of Boro village in Kibosho Moshi believed that passion fruit wasn’t worth wasting time to produce leave alone making some cash on even by selling through the surrounding local market. This is due to the notion that the tree climbing vine was considered a wild fruit as the seeds would just be dropped on trees by scavenging birds which would later grow and bare fruits continuously with no agronomic efforts.

There is a Kiswahili saying that says “Kidole Kimoja Hakivunji Chawa” which translates to “One finger cannot kill a louse”. This is precisely the motivation behind (Muungano wa Vikundi vya Kilimo cha Horticulture (MUVIKIHO) which literally means a Union of Horticultural Producer Groups.