World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

On land that was once desert, WFP and the local government of Dodoma worked together to build an irrigation system in 2007. Villagers of Buigiri village now supply nutritious vegetables to all the surrounding villages, as well as Dodoma town. Giant Boabab trees still dot the landscape as a reminder of the dry climate.

Girls take a break in the midday sun, eating the fresh tomatoes they are harvesting. Their family is part of Upendo Farmers’ Group which was given a moneymaker water pump by WFP to extend the reaches of the Buigiri irrigation system.

Locals from surrounding villages can bring their harvested millet to barter for fresh vegetables. This farmer provided an example of how many tomatoes he would trade for one full cup of millet.

Members of Mungano Farmers’ Group farm various vegetables including cabbage, tomatoes, spinach, and okra, using a moneymaker pump provided by WFP to pull water from a deep hand-dug well. Though they have only had the pump for three months, they have been able to more than double the amount of land they farm, providing their community with a local source of fresh produce as well as income for their families.

Hadidja harvests beans from her one-acre farm land. Her harvest has more than tripled due to the irrigation system supported by a WFP Food for Asset project. She expects next year's harvest to be even more plentiful, yielding up to six times the harvest she had before irrigation.

A sunflower is pollinated on a farm irrigated under Food for Assets. Dodoma is one of the largest producers of sunflower oil in Tanzania.