News & Insights

With covid-19 interrupting many interventions, we had to find new ways to promote sustainable rice cultivation with rice farmers and other stakeholders in Uganda. Explore more in this story!

Is the food Arusha's citizens consume healthy? Is it safe & nutritious? Together with Iles de Paix and Farm Radio, Rikolto has kicked of an interactive radio programme to raise consumers’ awareness about healthy, safe, and nutritious food.

Access to finance as the last piece of the puzzle to achieve mass production for farmers in Arusha and Manyara. Explore their story here.

One failed contract does not mean the end of a partnership. Find out more in the story about the Kwapa chili famers and MACE Foods.

Equipping young entrepreneurs with the right tools to pursue their innovative ideas, that's what the Generation Food Bootcamp is all about. To create a sustainable food system in Arusha, we need fresh & innovative ideas. Read more here!

Thanks to a loan from the Belgian association Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs (OVO), entrepreneur Leonard Shayo can kickstart the production of precooked beans in Tanzania. Read more here.

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.

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.