Press Release

"We are made of what we consume every day. I know the source of my beauty is vegetables I eat." A healthy and brilliant lady confidently talks in the screen in front of various mouth-watering vegetable dishes. TANSHEP project has released the video clip on Clouds TV featuring Ms. Nancy Sumari, a renowned model and prominent social entrepreneur, to encourage Tanzanian citizens to consume more vegetables.

TANSHEP is the market-oriented horticulture project, being implemented by Ministry of Agriculture and President's Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) in assistance with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), covering the three regions of Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Tanga. The project capacitates farmers to gain more income by encouraging them to look at market needs first. It promotes market survey by farmers before starting production so that they could capture what types of vegetables are in need when, where and how much.

With the short movie, TANSHEP has started a series of promotion to raise awareness of vegetable consumption among Tanzanian consumers for their healthy diet and nutrition improvement. In this regard, two of the TANSHEP Taskforce members, Ms. Tabu Likoko from the MoA and Mr. Issa Hatibu from Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS) in Tanga, were live interviewed in Clouds 360 on 21st December 2021. In the interview, they introduced TANSHEP activities to millions of Tanzanian audiences and highlighted positive effects that vegetable intake would bring about to our health. In Tanzania, micronutrient deficiency and obesity have been persistent issues. The STEPS survey which describe the current levels of risk factors for chronic diseases in the Tanzanian population conducted by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and National Institute for Medical Research in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2013 reveals that only 2.8% of Tanzanian population are taking 400g or 5 servings of vegetables and/or fruits per day as globally recommended by WHO. Statistics (FAOSTAT) also shows that vegetable consumption in Tanzania in 2013 is calculated to be 112g a day, which is only a quarter of the daily recommendation. Sufficient intake of vegetables is not only to tune up our daily physical conditions, but also to improve immunity as well as to reduce the risks of Non-Communicable Diseases. The project believes that the consumers' acknowledgement of the positive impact of vegetable intake and change in dietary behavior will lead to growth of vegetable market in the long term, which would contribute to helping farmers sell more vegetables.

The project is honored to start the promotion in 2021, the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables declared by the United Nations. In collaboration with nutrition experts and influencers, TANSHEP will continue to demonstrating the benefits of vegetable consumption to Tanzanian citizens.