Our last meeting of the week is at Kiponzelo.  When we arrive, we find that there is a large meeting of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) meaning “The Party of the Revolution.”  CCM is the dominant ruling party in Tanzania and the longest-ruling party in Africa.  This is the party of the President, John Pombe Magufuli, who was elected in 2016.  Many of the members of our SACCOS are also important members of the CCM and are attending the meeting.  Elections are coming up and are scheduled for August 12.  As we drive around we see the green flag of the CCM flying at many village locations.

There are only four members that show up for our meeting.  The Secretary

of the SACCOS opens the meeting.  Partway through the meeting, the Chairman of the SACCOS stops in at the meeting.  Peter Silayo steps outside to speak with him.  The Chairman said that he apologized for not attending the meeting, but he and the Board of Directors discussed this before the meeting.  He said that he would be well represented by the Secretary and three members of the Board of Directors of the SACCOS, and that the members attending our meeting would brief the rest of the officers and board members later in the day.

This meeting was smaller than normal.  However our meetings are never too large since only the officers and the board members of the SACCOS, and of the AMCOS attend the meetings, if an AMCOS has been organized.

The Secretary reports that the SACCOS has 94 members of which 48 are men and 46 are women.  The SACCOS has TZS 7,900,000 in purchased shares and TZS 14,000,000 in member savings for a total of TZS 21,900,000 in total capital (or about $9,700).  The SACCOS has an additional loan from the Joint SACCOS of TZS 45,000,000 (or about $19,900).  The SACCOS has started to pay back the loan and has TZS 28,000,000 remaining on the loan.  The SACCOS made 49 loans for a total of TZS 45,000,000 loaned (or about $406 per loan).

The AMCOS was getting organized and had more than 20 members, the required number to become registered as an AMCOS.  The members were ready, but the harvest was not good and they stopped working on the AMCOS because the members did not have the funds to purchase the shares and the entrance fee required by the AMCOS.  However they now have 20 members and they are ready to move ahead with the registration.  They plan to have a vote for officers and a board of directors and to move ahead with the AMCOS.

One of the members stated that when he orders fertilizer from distributors, sometimes he gets “Fake fertilizer.”  Members at other villages said that the distributors re-bag the fertilizer and put filer material in with the fertilizer.  Without being there, it is difficult to know what is actually happening.  If other best farming practices were not used, or if there wasn’t enough rainfall, it would be easy to blame poor yields on bad fertilizer.  However he said that he trusts Iringa Hope to ensure that members receive the correct product that they ordered.

The Secretary said that so much is changing in marketing, if Iringa Hope could help, they would be grateful.  I asked him to elaborate.  He said that members sell to the first “Middleman” who shows up to pick up their maize.  He said that some members were paid TZS 25,000 per bag of maize, when the price of maize at other buyers in Iringa was between TZS 33,000 and TZS 38,000.  Other members said that the middlemen only show up when the price is low.  They don’t show up when the price is high.  When the cost of production is high, it is difficult to make a profit at those prices.

Venance described the forecast sheet that we provided to them that lists the products and the varieties of supplies that we would like a forecast for.  The Secretary said that he would return the forecast to us on Monday or Tuesday of the next week.

As we wound up the discussion of how the SACCOS and the AMCOS work together, one of the members thanked us for what we are doing.  He said that they would look forward to having an Integrated Development Center built in their village.  They would look forward to having warehouse space available in the village in a secure building.

Our first interview in Kiponzelo was with Sophia Kuwoko.  Sophia is 36 years old and is a member of the Board of Directors of the SACCOS.  She has been a member of the SACCOS for four years.  She is married and has one son, who is 14 years old.

She has a farm of two acres and she raises potatoes and maize.

Her first loan was for TZS 500,000 to purchase two bags each for DAP and Urea fertilizer and hybrid seed for her one acre of maize.  She said that she bought the seed from a distributor and that the seed was number 6229, but she didn’t know what brand it was.  She made income of TZS 820,000 and so she obtained a profit of TZS 320,000 (or about $141) after the loan was repaid.

Her second loan was for TZS 750,000 for fertilizer and seed for her potatoes.  She purchased DAP + CAN + SA (Sulphate of Ammonia).  She obtained 30 bags of potatoes from her one acre of potatoes, which she sold for TZS 40,000 per bag for total income of TZS 1,200,000.  Her profit after repaying the loan was TZS 450,000 (or about $200).

She reported that she sold the maize to Musoma Foods for TZS 410/Kg.  This was last fall and the price paid was probably consistent with market pricing at that time.  We should contact Musoma Foods as a potential market buyer for our members’ maize.

Sophia reported that she will be using her profits to send her son to school.  She said that she also wants to start a small business opening a shop as a restaurant.

Our second interview was with Samora Kihongo.  Samora is 40 years old and has been a member of the SACCOS for five years.  He is married and has four children; three daughters and one son.  The children are 15, 13, 10 and 3 years old.

He has a business cutting and selling wood and farming.  He owns four acres and he raises maize and

potatoes.  Prior to this year, he used his own capital.  His first loan was this year for TZS 2,100,000 (or about $930).  He has used his loan to purchase trees to cut and sell for firewood and to purchase fertilizer and seed for maize and potatoes.  He buys trees for TZS 3,000 per tree and sells the wood for about TZS 7,000 per tree.  So far he has purchased and sold twenty trees this year.   He has not yet sold his maize and potatoes, so he has not yet recognized his income for the year.

In the past, he sold maize to the middlemen that came to the village.  The current price offered has been between TZS 30,000 and TZS 35,000 per bag.  This is on the low end of market prices.

When he was using his own capital, there were gaps when he didn’t have the cash that he needed to purchase trees.  Since he has obtained a loan, there are now no gaps in his available funds so that he can continually purchase trees.

He has been using his profits to send his children to school and he intends to purchase a chain saw for his business.