Community-led last mile youth and women quality centers revolutionizing seed access and empowering rural smallholder farmers in Tanzania

Joseph Gambi is a youth champion and a seed producer in Ukwile village, Mbozi District, Songwe Region, Tanzania. He is also part of the team managing the Ukwile Youth and Women Quality Centre, an innovative last-mile seed delivery model implemented within the Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Systems in Africa (AVISA) program. This project, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and implemented in partnership with the Center for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC) and the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), targets sorghum and groundnut improvement in Tanzania’s Songwe Region, with behavior change interventions focusing on increasing the adoption of high-quality seeds of improved varieties among youth and women farmers.