Heziron Njiuka is a farmer from Imalinyi village in Wanging’ombe district, Tanzania. He has been farming potatoes for 4 years. Heziron is a member of the Njombe Agricultural Development Organization (NADO), which focuses on ware and seed potato production. He is one of the farmers who has learned improved potato farming techniques from NADO through the potato project that is funded by FFD.

Heziron’s potato yield and quality have increased due to improved farming methods. He explains, “I have never harvested such a good yield as I have this year. I had never harvested more than 4 MT/acre. However, after applying the techniques I learned from NADO, I was able to harvest 29.21 MT in 3 acres, which is an average of 9.74 MT/acre Thank you to NADO for helping all the farmers.”

NADO has also helped farmers to link to buyers and markets leading to increased income. Heziron has been able to sell his potatoes for 30 000 TZs (10 euros) per bag and made a total of 8 763 000 TZs (3 124 euros) for his harvest of three acres of potatoes. He humbly says, “I am very thankful to NADO for linking me with the market.”

In addition to a better yield, the potatoes are also better quality due to improved farming methods. The potatoes are bigger, they don’t get infected by diseases and they aren’t attacked by pests. Heziron tells about his future plans, “My plan is to expand the area of production since I have enough land. I would like to build another house and open a store where I could sell fertilizer to my fellow farmers.”