Liana

08/10/2026

Pineapples! 🍍
It is worth diversifying farming systems by trying some crops that farmers have never grown anywhere close to the project area.
These pineapple plants were planted from slips and suckers at the beginning of the short rains in early November last year.
They have done particularly well in one of the driest areas where farmers struggle to find crop options that would endure the harsh environmental conditions.

29/09/2026

Large tree nurseries are being establushed in the Masasi Forest Garden project. In Mwanga farmers have taken their last opportunity to gap fill their live fences, or grow enough seedlings to complete missing sides of their farms, before the project ends in three months time.
Family members join the work and facilitators also help in filling seedbags during weekly group sessions.
Farmers use thick mulching to protect the soil while waiting for the seed sowing time. We don't want to 'cook' the soil in the blazing sun and kill all the useful microorganisms needed for fertile soil.

29/09/2026

Effective facilitation of farmer group work plays an essential part in a successful community development project.
Prisca from the Masasi Forest Garden project and Sarah from the Mwanga Forest Garden project recently completed a Training of Trainers (ToT) course at Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania in Morogoro and received certificates to mark their achievement.
Sometimes training can be this intensive, as the course can be run to only two participants thanks to SAT.
Sarah's course was paid by specific professional training grant that Liana received from Stats4SD, UK, to supplement Ministry for Foreign Affairs funding.

29/09/2026

Beautiful young trees planted by farmers on their land during the Mwanga Forest Garden project. Live fence trees can easily grow beyond their intended height and require radical pruning.
This is how open lowland farmland can, little by little, be transformed into a greener and more diverse landscape that supports both human needs and ecosystem functions.

24/09/2026

Liana's newest news blog is online! Please have a look. It's a detailed account on Liana's monitoring trip to the Masasi Forest Garden project. This year Ric carried out this trip.

(alla suomeksi) Ric undertook a monitoring visit of the Forest Garden project in Masasi on behalf of Liana as he was in Tanzania for other purposes. Direct interaction with farmers gives us an opportunity to listen, ask questions and learn from their experiences, while also helping us identify where...

16/09/2026

Lukuledi Special School has been progressing in the Masasi Forest Garden project with the same activity schedule as the farmers. Led by teacher Juma, the students are in the process of establishing a 1.5-acre Forest Garden on the school premises.
Communication happens through sign language, which the project officers are also learning.

14/09/2026

This year, Ric is carrying out Liana’s annual monitoring visit to the Masasi Forest Garden project. He brings with him over 30 years of experience in agroforestry, agroecology and research methodologies.

Here, he is engaged in a discussion with a farmer group together with KIMAS Programme Manager Torai. ... and joining in filling seedbags with Torai, Elikado (Project officer food crops) and Frank (Project officer forestry)... and looking at the chinese cabbage of the recent vegetable activity.

The groups are currently busy establishing tree nurseries in preparation for outplanting at the start of the rains in January. This is one of the most demanding and endurance-testing activities in the Forest Garden approach. Each farmer will grow around 1,500–2,000 live-fence trees to protect their farm and, at the same time, provide a steady source of biomass for composting and mulching to improve and maintain soil fertility.

Direct interaction with farmers gives us an opportunity to listen, ask questions and learn from their experiences, while also helping us identify where the project can further improve its support.
Monitoring is about learning together and ensuring that the knowledge, skills and practices are useful and relevant to farmers.

13/09/2026

We at Liana are very happy that our partner organisation in the Masasi Forest Garden project, KIMAS, has been selected as one of the five general members of the Steering Committee of the new Tanzania Agroforestry Stakeholders Platform (TAFP). TAFP was launched this past Thursday.
This is a notable recognition of KIMAS’s work and expertise in agroforestry.

Our joint Forest Garden project, together with KIMAS’s collaboration with Vi Agroforestry, a Swedish NGO, provides a strong basis for this recognition and an acknowledged role in Tanzania’s agroforestry sector.

The TASP Interim Steering Committee leadership is composed of Vi-skogen/Vi Agroforestry as Chairperson, CSPFoundation Non-Profit Organization as the Interim Secretariat, and five General Members:
- Dreamnature Organization
- The Centre for Counselling Nutrition and Health Care (COUNSENUTH)
- SFT
- KIMAS
- SHIWAKUTA Farmers' Federation.

09/09/2026

Acacia polycantha seeds start to be locally available to local farmers in Mwanga. This is good news as the Mwanga project will soon come to its completion.
Many neighbours to Forest Garden farmers got interested in growing a live fence. This is due to livestock roaming around and destroying crops, and thiefs stealing crops. A thorny fence is a good investment for protection and firewood. With Leucaena and Gliricidia the fence becomes complete providing fodder for livestock and biomass for mulch and compost needed fir soil management.

12/08/2026

Informative moments at Nane Nane, Arusha. This is how the word about Forest Gardens, Bustani Msitu, spreads to farmers and practioners from elsewhere.