News & Insights

Do you have the impression that 2019 just flew by? So do we! However, looking back at it, a lot has happened for Rikolto in East Africa. Want to find out what exactly we did? Our annual report 2019 is now available!

Meet the Generation Food entrepreneurs: They are young, ambitious and the driving force behind food system change. On 27-28 August, they took part in the Generation Food Hackathon in Arusha to develop their business ideas. Find out more here.

It is that time of year again… Every year, in September, the African Green Revolution Forum takes place. With this year’s topic being “feed the cities, grow the continent”, our colleagues will - vitually - share their insights on Arusha’s food system and what other cities can learn from it.

DEADLINE CLOSED | We’re done with business as usual! You too? We’re looking for the next generation of food entrepreneurs, who are motivated to unlock business solutions for a sustainable and fair food system in Arusha together with 200 other youth during a 2-day Generation Food Hackathon. Apply by 19 August, 4pm!

Our rice expert Djalou is taking sustainable rice practices to the next (national) level in Tanzania. Read more about her trip to Morogoro here.

Kampala has been booming as an innovation and start-up business hub. Now, the COVID-19 crisis and its confinement measures are forcing businesses to adapt their models. Let's have a closer look at one example of an innovative company in the food industry: Bringo Fresh.

The kiosk has been around for centuries, but is still innovative as a model for selling fresh fruit and vegetables, especially during the covid-19 pandemic.

In Tanzania, 90% of water is consumed by agriculture, with most farmers using inefficient irrigation methods. A switch to solar-powered irrigation systems reduces the impact on climate change and increases farmers’ income.

“Access to affordable and quality food for all, today and in the future.” This is our mission and during this corona crisis it is more relevant but also more difficult than ever.

The demand for rice is growing, but Tanzania's rice production potential is left untapped. With improved production and irrigation systems, Tanzania could produce enough quality rice to meet the regional rice demand. Living up to this potential is of course not a one-person job. Rikolto will therefore join the rice taskforce created to support the National Rice Development Strategy II.

Updated! The COVID-19 pandemic, besides a global health crisis, is also a challenge for food and nutrition security. One thing is clear: People should not have to choose between their health or their food. Beans are both very much loved and highly nutritious - how can they be a viable solution for food security?

Big news! We have started a new project to support smallholder farmers in Northern Uganda. On 14 January 2020, the project kicked off as part of a wider partnership between the Government of Uganda and the European Union.

What can we learn from farmers in Kenya? An exchange visit showed that innovative tools are creating incentives for smallholder farmers to adopt good agricultural techniques and increase productivity.

How to put 'inclusive business' principles in practice? Two examples of how East African farmers gained better access to services in specific business cases brokered by Rikolto.

Building on the knowledge and learning of vegetable and fruit projects in northern Tanzania, Rikolto will now expand its activities to five regions: Iringa, Njombe, Mbeya, Songwe, and Katavi.

Uwamale farmers’ cooperative has grown from just 15 to 600 members since it was established 15 years ago. Find out how farmers in the Arumeru district benefit from being a member.

Rice farming exposure was a starting point for women empowerment in Babati, Tanzania. "I am one of them, first as a daughter and now as a mother,” says Mary Temu. Know her story.

Between March and August 2019, three journalists from the digital platform Eos Tracé visited partner cities of Rikolto's Food Smart Cities programme. This book tells their stories from 9 cities in Vietnam, Belgium, Tanzania, Indonesia, Ecuador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Rikolto Country Office in Uganda has signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Microfinance Support Centre (MSC) to facilitate affordable financial services and strengthen management capacities of small holder farmers organised in agricultural Cooperatives. The MoU will also extend support to Small and Medium Enterprises and enable employment creation for the youth through business development services (BDS).

David Leysenns joined Rikolto as Regional Director on 1st August 2019. Mr. Leyssens studied Communication Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB; 2004) and has an additional one-year training from Vlerick, called the Young Manager Acceleration Programme. While at Vlerick, David was an ambassador for the “follow your dream campaign”.

Rikolto started a programme in the beginning of 2018 to support private sector in Tanzania to expand pulses trade in and from Tanzania. East African Grain Council and Tanzania Pulses Network are the main partners in this programme.

In the often-crowded central market in the heart of Arusha, Baraka Mponda arranges his fresh vegetables ready for the buyers. He realises that more and more consumers are becoming aware of what they are buying and demand quality safe produce. Read how Rikolto is working together with the Arusha Council to improve public health and build an effective food safety system.

The Ugandan government is developing a new National Rice Development Strategy for the period 2020-2030. Environmental sustainability is a new item on the agenda. Our colleague John Ereng was invited to provide input on our experience in developing and applying the global standard for sustainable rice.

In the course of 2017 and 2018, while we rolled out several activities in our programmes areas in the region, we hit several milestones, sometimes faced a few bumps, but soldered on to report to you some. Open to read the whole report.

Rikolto's Rice Cluster members met in May for a week of field-visiting, cluster meeting and learning exchange in Uganda. During the six-day sprint, rice sector experts from Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Indonesia and Vietnam managed to complete a 2-day meeting to share insights, evaluate progress and explore strategic approaches to move forward within the rice programme.

Rikolto hosts 40 young people from the Uganda, Kenya, DRC, Tanzania and Rwanda in a workshop to learn more about food systems in East Africa and how to make them more sustainable. The workshop is organised in collaboration with Young Professional for Agricultural Development (YPARD), and is supported by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Are we romanticizing the economic potential of smallholder farmers? Does working on the inclusion of smallholder farmers in food chains increase the dominance of big business? These were the guiding questions in an exchange between Belgian funded NGOs, together with farmer organisations, researchers, national commodity associations and local governmental agencies in Arusha area, northern Tanzania.

Things that don’t change don’t grow and develop. You must change and rebrand yourself to fit in the new circumstances because the world is changing,” Hon. Christopher Kibazanga said. Rikolto, an Esperanto word for ‘harvest,’ had earlier been unveiled as the brand identity for the global Vredeseilanden/VECO brand. Quite often, different speakers found themselves intermixing the former and the new brands in their speeches, quickly acknowledging that a nomenclature transition was still happening.

Having started as a cashier about 3 years ago, Esther’s rise to the helm of leadership at the SACCO is affirmed by the growth the savings and credit group has experienced under her leadership.

For the last 10 years, the couple have been Onion Farmers, this being the major source of their livelihood.