As you approach Minongwe village in Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region in Tanzania, one will be met by a group of elderly men and women, some with children on their backs as each works on a different task farm as assigned. An elderly man is fetching water flowing from a nearby tunnel to fill the drip irrigation systems lined on the farm. Some women are harvesting ripened strawberries, and while others are packing the fruit into small branded packages ready for delivery to clients in Moshi Town.

Despite the unfavorable climate to grow strawberries, Minogro Grouphas been growing and harvesting trawberries consistently for 12 months using drip -irrigation, a climate-smart farming technique.
 

The project advocates for climate-smart farming techniques to generate income, create employment, and build resilient communities. "When we started, together, as a group, we invested 250 USD in cultivating the land and purchased drip irrigation kits or the project, but today the group has increased its capital to 1,100 USD", said Said Mrema, the group's chairperson. The group is also engaged in fruit farming and is in the process of starting poultry farming.

The project advocates for climate-smart farming techniques togenerate income, create employment, and build resilient communities.

Through the Climate Smart Economic Empowerment Program, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) collaborates with faith-based organizations to support and empower people in marginalized areas in Tanzania to achieve economic growth. In Northern Tanzania, NCA partners with ELCT Tanzania - Northern Diocese to advocate for climate-smart agriculture practices to boost food productivity and income and build community resilience to climate change and shock and as such enables the people to lift themselves from poverty.

Under the program, smallholder farmers are growing vegetables, fruits, and rearing improved breeds of poultry. ELCT Northern Diocese facilitates support at every level of the supply chain. The program provides smallholder farmers in the region with affordable cheap drip irrigation kits, equips them with knowledge, skills and gives them access to markets to ensure they achieve successful and sustainable climate-smart farming.

But perhaps the most intriguing part is the fact from this project that every member has established their own small farm in the homestead. Minogro's climate-smart project is part of NCA's Climate Smart Economic Program and implemented by ELCT-Northern Diocese. Through the project, the group is provided with skills and knowledge, marketing personnel to help them research the market and find markets for the group.