"Background and objectives: smallholders in rural African farming communities produce the bulk
of the regional food requirements, yet their production system has many limitations including poor access to: information on improved production technology such as new high yielding varieties and better crop management strategies; as well as access to inputs and markets. As such their production is often for subsistence and productivity levels tend to stagnate and sometimes decline as their natural resource base degrades. A project on participatory technology generation for improved productivity was initiated in 1995 with farmers in Patanumbe village, Mbuguni division of Arusha district in Tanzania, East Africa. The initial objectives were to develop IPM strategies with farmers to enhance adoption of technologies for increased productivity, food security and maintenance of a sustainable production environment. The project was quite successful and farmers¿ productivity increased within two years. As the farmers
started realising surpluses from their production, they initiated a process to extend the technologies to neighbouring villages. The emphasis shifted towards access to markets to sell the surpluses as the different villages accumulated substantial surpluses and FAIDA, an NGO specialising in small enterprise promotion, was invited to assist."