The miracle sugarcane farm

Years ago, we owned a sugarcane farm. This farm was locatedrnin Lwiche , Sumbawanga. If ask old sugarcane road traders in Sumbawanga, they knowrnhistory of the Lwiche sugarcane farm. This farm was everything to our family. Whyrndo I say this farm was everything to our family? Without this farm, I don'trnthink I would have been able to study until where I am now. Without this farm,rneven food would not have been possible. Let me explain so we understand each other.

 Small-scale farmers,rnincluding myself, lived a life where our main crop was maize. We grew maize forrnconsumption, selling a small portion to buy various daily necessities, andrnleaving another portion as seeds for the next season. That life, I cannotrnforget. During the maize planting season, there were farmers who didn't havernenough maize reserves for consumption; either they sold all their maize andrnfinished their stock, or they consumed it all before the next harvestingrnseason. If you made a mistake and finish before the next harvest, then yourrnfamily would suffer greatly from hunger. I witnessed families that finishedrntheir maize reserves and had no food left. They had no seeds to plant maize forrnthe next season. Parents had no other jobs than waiting for the rains to comernso they could work as laborers in the fields.

So, how does the sugarcane farm fit into this? The sugarcanernfarm was our savior. There were times when our maize reserves were depleted,rnand the only lifeline was the sugarcane farm. During the maize season, we gotrnmaize, and during the off-season, the sugarcane farm was the source of incomernfor the family. We harvested sugarcane and sold it to roadside vendors who camernto buy in our farm. The sugarcane farm was our savior, especially when thernmaize reserves ran out. When we harvested sugarcane and sold it, we got moneyrnto buy maize for consumption. Sugarcane was our savior for our family. Irnremember witnessing other families struggling for food, and if it wasn't forrnour sugarcane farm, maybe I wouldn't have studied because maize wasn't a sourcernof income in our farming, maize was for food. That's why we call our sugarcanernfarm, The Miracle SugarCane Farm.

I remember until today, I used to go to the farm with myrnlate mother. We would meet roadside vendors crowded in the farm, each with anrnorder for sugarcane they wanted. One wanted 10 sugarcane, another 20, anotherrn50 and so on.

 My mother was the onernwho set the price for one sugarcane based on its size, for wholesale. My motherrnnegotiated the price with these traders, while I acted as an accountant. Irnrecorded daily sugarcane sales, counted money, and hid it in my clothes. Have Irntold you, this is the reason I studied accounting? The money earned from thernsugarcane farm was used to pay for my brothers' boarding school fees. Thisrnsugarcane farm holds a special place in our hearts, which is why we refer to itrnas "The miracle sugarcane farm."

Our farming life was a lonely life. We had no close agronomicrnsupport. Yes, in our village, we had an agricultural officer, but he was of nornhelp. Firstly, we never saw him in the fields, nor did we receive anyrnassistance from him. So, we relied on ourselves. Our harvests were poor. That'srnwhy our lives were tough. Our neighbors, who were farmers like us, were as poorrnas us. They struggled like us. Even now, the lives of many smallholder farmersrnare the same. Even after my mother passed away, we continued to farm withrndifficulty under the supervision of my grandmother, whom we called GrandmarnNdango. Various NGOs came, took our information, and promised to help us butrnnever returned.

The sugarcane farm is what enabled me to finish thernuniversity. Thanks to the government's education loan, if not for that, maybe Irnwouldn't have gone to university because I couldn't afford it. As I graduatedrnfrom university and returned home to my dear village, I paid a visit to ourrnbeloved sugarcane farm. It shatters my soul to witness the struggles thatrnsmallholder farmers in my community continue to face even today. The pain is sornreal as I see their struggles firsthand. It is a constant reminder of the toughrnjourney that lies ahead of me with these courageous and diligent individuals.rnBut despite the challenges, I remain optimistic and determined to do everythingrnwithin my power to bring about positive change for these deserving farmers.

Every day, I promise myself that I will take action tornenhance the livelihoods of these humble small-scale farmers.

I started the company MazaoHub to bring precisionrnagriculture technologies to small-scale farmers because of the problems Irnencountered as a small-scale farmer. Problems that still plague many farmers inrnAfrica. Before MazaoHub, I started an agritech company that was like anrne-commerce platform connecting farmers. I failed miserably. Do you think I gavernup?

My failure pushed me to go back to my village, and visited  our sugarcane farm. I remember crying in   the sugarcanernfarm alone and told that farm , “you are the one that pushed me to start agritechrncompany that failed. Tell me where I'm stuck? Give me strength to start afresh”rn. I had no idea what happened, but that Miracle Sugarcane Farm gave me a newrninspiration that  led to drawing a newrnmap of New Agritech which is the birthplace of MazaoHub Precision AgriculturernInc.

African farmers have been failed by inefficient agriculturalrnextension delivery services. Agricultural extension delivery is disorganized,rnnot data-driven, and that's why farmers are not productive, not connected tornmarket and not creditworthy. Imagine an extension officer, overseeing more thanrn3000 farmers manually. Many farmers are not served, and nobody cares. Go to anyrncountry in Africa, and you will find farmers doing things on their own. If yournsee a farmer being visited and provided services, know that seed companies havernsent their experts specifically to distribute their seeds. They will do it forrna few farmers to sell their seeds. No close agronomic support.

MazaoHub solves these problems. We recognize that ifrnagricultural extension delivery is streamlined, many farmers will be served.rnAnd we will achieve high productivity. To achieve true agriculturalrnproductivity, farmers need a comprehensive approach that includes geospatialrndata about their land, historical and predictive climate information. They needrnsoil nutrient testing, crop suitability analysis, budgeting based on currentrnmarket prices, monitoring tools to track crop health, guidance and knowledge ofrnappropriate local fertilizers/herbicides, understanding of market trends, andrnproper post-harvest practices including insights. All these services must bernonboarded together, and we can use AI to provide farmers with personalizedrnreal-time prescriptions, recommendations, and insights on soil, fertilizers,rnherbicides, and daily farming guidance just like how doctors providernprescriptions in health sector. To deliver these services, we cannot rely onrnextension officers without software tools.  It is impossible. Nor can we rely on softwarernalone to solve this problem. That's why MazaoHub delivers these servicesrnthrough software and on ground support.   

With our simple, local app that functions even with lowrnconnectivity or offline. This is where MazaoHub Precision Agriculture comes in.rnBut for African farmers, a human touch is also essential. That's where our farmrnexcellent centers come in.

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Mazao Hub Platform is accessible here: www.mazaohub.com andrnavailable on Google Playstore as Mazao Hub. We have users in Tanzania,rnZimbabwe, Zambia, Congo, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda but our headquartersrnis based in Dar es Salaam, with more than 30 farmer excellent centers servingrnmore than 39,000 smallholder farmers. We produce our own soil sensors andrnpartner with input companies, food companies, financial institutions to deliverrnall their services using MazaoHub Farmer Excellent Centers models.