farip supports innovation in rural areas in Africa and targeted attempts to improve the income of farming families with new business ideas. Small farmers are increasingly focusing their business ideas on fair trade and their own transport chain – without intermediaries – from the collection points in the highlands to the points of sale, and on direct marketing in the city. farip plays the role of both a microcredit bank and a coach and advisor to help these proactive people move forward. This gives them the chance to show in an experimental phase that their ideas can work.
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Smallholder farmers in Tanzania could produce much more, but they do not receive operating loans as banks demand land as collateral. However, losing the land to the bank in case of crop failure is not an option. Tanzanian farming families have now devised a new credit mechanism: Instead of offering the parcels, the farming families only offer the valuable trees on their parcels as collateral for loans.
RISK-REDUCED CREDITS FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT
“We could double our production, if we could get loans. When we need cash we cut some trees we had planted and sell the timber. But instead of cutting the trees, can we give our trees as security to get a bank loan to grow more beans? If we can pay back, the trees are still there and growing, and we can take out a next loan for again growing more beans”. Suzanna Mfikwa is a farmer in Magunguli village. She and her colleagues in the Magunguli Tree Grower Association came up with an idea, a group of smallholder farmers in Magunguli refined this great idea: Offer growing trees as collateral for loans? This idea started the TCRD mechanism a couple of years ago – Tree-secured Credits for Rural Development, using the still growing trees as security for loans to increase agricultural production.
farip presented the TCRD venture to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and made it to the finals of the International Cooperation Forum 2025, among the top 10 projects.
Read here all about tree-secured credits for rural development TCRD..
FAIR TRADE AND OWN TRANSPORT CHAIN
“People here in Dar demand good and affordable staple foods produced by small farmers in the villages,” explains Queen Bahati, a young female entrepreneur. However, deliveries from the rural areas are currently delayed. Heavy rains have made the dirt roads impassable.
Currently, a bean changes hands 7 to 8 times before it reaches the plates in Dar es Salaam. For everyone involved in this complex chain, trade is a highly risky business, as it is practically unpredictable due to numerous uncertainties.
The trading company TBM wants to reverse the trade dynamics. The name itself, Tanzania Biashara Mapema (TBM), meaning «Tanzania Business in Advance,» signifies a different and innovative logic. TBM takes responsibility for marketing the products on behalf of the farmers throughout the entire logistics chain, right up to the final sale in cities, while ensuring transparent accounting. Let’s try to change the whole system and have a truck drive like a bus! With a fixed timetable and defined regular stops!
Read all about collection points, transport and points-of-sale..
HOW DOES SCOUTING WORK
How does scouting work? What is the pathway from idea to experimentation? How can an interesting idea from rural Africa be transformed into a successful small business? It takes scouting! This is what farip specialises in: “scouting”. We pick up ideas brought to us by proactive people in rural Africa. farip then digs deeper and challenges these ideas, asking questions like: Who are the innovative potential entrepreneurs and their team members who want to bring this innovation to life? How do they organise themselves? Which technical tests can show whether the business idea is feasible? And where is the market for the products?
MAP OF FARIP’S ACTIVITIES
farip’s ventures are concentrated actually in Tanzanias southern highlands around Makambako and Magunguli, as well as along the cargo service’s route to Dar es-Salaam, in Msowero and Morogoro. farip also supports ventures in Dar es-Salaam.