Tanzania, October 2024
Preparatory Workshop for Annual Rice Sector Review Meeting (ARSRM) in Tanzania
Rice is a major food crop in Tanzania, and the country is the largest rice producer in the Eastern Africa Community (EAC) region. Rice is of significant national importance as a source of employment, income and food security for millions of rural households in Tanzania. CARD Secretariat assisted the NRDS task force members in formulating and validating the NRDS 2 (2019-2030) which aims to establish Tanzania as a leader in regional rice markets through significant improvements in its supply chain. To promote the implementation of the NRDS-2, CARD will help the NRDS task force members to monitor the NRDS 2 through selected indicators and organize Annual Rice Sector Review Meetings (ARSRM) through which the wider stakeholders could discuss the progress, challenges and opportunities in rice sector development.
In June this year, CARD assisted the NRDS task force members in establishing 15 indicators (4 overall), 2 each under Resilience (R), Industrialization (I ), Competitiveness (C ) and Empowerment (E , Price (P ), fertilizer adoption rate and Postharvest loss from across the rice value chain. It is conceivable that besides serving as direct measures, these indicators would also help in monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of the Implementation of NRDS-2 itself. On 29th and 30th October 2024 at the premises of the Ministry of Agriculture Dodoma, NRDS TF members held a preparatory workshop for ARSRM through technical and financial support from the CARD Secretariat and JICA Tanzania to; 1) appraise and finalize the data collected under each of Tanzania’s M&E indicators, set their year 2030 targets and draw up plans for the ARSRM. Furthermore, a meeting with key Development Partners was done to draw their attention to the upcoming ARSRM for further collaboration and implementation of NRDS. This report outlines the outcome of this workshop.
Workshop Activities and Outputs
The NRDS task force members organized the workshop at the premises of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dodoma Tanzania. About 20 task force members and 2 officials from the JICA Tanzania office participated in the workshop. Dr. Kathiresan, Arumugam (CARD’s Senior Advisor) joined online. CARD General Coordinator, Mr. Ken Fujie physically joined the workshop on the second day of 30th October 2024. Since Eng Anna Mwangamilo could not physically attend the meeting, Eng. Florian Kalemera and Eng Fadhili Mngazija substituted the roles of the Focal point at the workshop. The workshop embarked with welcoming and opening remarks from Eng. Florian Kalemera, Eng Fadhili and Mr. Tatsuki Sakai (JICA). This was sequentially followed by a presentation from the CARD Senior Advisor on the expected outputs from this ARSRM preparatory workshop. Through the guidance of the CARD Senior Advisor, the NRDS TF members discussed and set plans for the ARSRM during the first day of the workshop. The discussion on finalizing, validating and setting Target figures for all the M&E indicators was completed on day two of the workshop through the guidance of CARD M&E Advisor. The workshop closing remarks were delivered by Mr. Ken Fujie (CARD General Coordinator).
Consensus on indicators and data collection protocols
The Tanzania baseline survey (2022) proposed a total of 14 M&E indicators to monitor their NRDS 2 comprising of 12 CARD indicators (4 Overall and 2 each in Resilience, Industrialization, Competitiveness and Empowerment) and 2 additional Tanzania specific indicators (Fertilizer adoption rate and post-harvest losses). The aim of this workshop held on 29th and 30th was to appraise, finalize and validate data collected by the NRDS TF for the preparations of ARSRM, following the previous meeting held in Moshi, Tanzania on June 2024 whereby the NRDS TF members reviewed the indicators definitions, data sources, data collection methodologies and consensually designated data collection responsibilities for each indicator. The NRDS TF presented the data for each indicator, reviewed, validated and set the 2030 targets. In addition, the members highlighted indicators that had challenge/gaps and a way forward regarding those indicators was set. The Taskforce members agreed to further collect data for the pending indicators and submit it on the fixed timelines.
Review of Sub-sector Intervention Element Matrix (SIEM) and Concept Notes
In the previous workshop held in June 2024, the NRDS TF members identified gaps in the funding of NRDS-2 by reviewing the current interventions and their level of meeting the needs using the SIEM and discussed and made amendments for 10 concept notes through a peer reviewing process. On the workshop held on 29th and 30th October, the NRDS TF members appraised and validated the SIEM and the amended 10 concept notes for the preparations of ARSRM. The ARSRM under the M&E process presents an opportunity to share concept notes with the stakeholders.
Planning for the ARSRM
The NRDS members were confident that the remaining data collection tasks under M&E would be accomplished by the end of November and that the first ARSRM for Tanzania could be organized in the last week of January 2025. The participants suggested a list of stakeholders to be invited for the ARSRM representing the Ministry of Agriculture, line ministries, private sectors, development partners, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), Research and Development Institutions (R&D), and Farmers groups. The NRDS TF members consensually agreed to share the responsibilities of presenting the overview of the rice sector, progress on M&E indicators, SIEM and concept notes.
Held a series of meetings with key Development Partners
Tanzania’s progress on the NRDS process such as NRDS strategy development, concept note development, and M&E flamework setting on RICE approach indicators, has been achieved and some data are being verified. According to the above reporting on the preparation of the Annual Rice Sector Review Meeting (ARSRM), it is a key on how to involve development partners (DPs) to mobilize the resources. One of the objectives of ARSRM is to promote external resources to implement projects according to the concept notes developed together with the NRDS TF team and CARD. The involvement of DPs is crucial for the success of NRDS in terms of implementing a wider range of activities that address the current challenges in the rice sector. To seize the opportunities of the meeting, visits were made to several key DPs and NGOs to sound the invitation of 1st ARSRM to create an opportunity for further collaboration in rice sector development. The institutions and organizations visited includes;
1) Norges vel Tanzania
2) FAO, Tanzania
3) World Bank, Tanzania
Way forward for M&E data collection and preparation of the ARSRM workshop
The NRDS TF members agreed to collect and submit data for the pending indicators by the 22nd of November. The participants also agreed to submit the first Annual Summary report draft on the 18th of November. The NRDS Focal Point and TF members will finalize the list of invitees and briefing of higher officials about ARSRM. The NRDS TF proposed to hold the ARSRM at the end of January in Dodoma and further details shall be shared by the NRDS FP.
