Program Objectives

The Maziwa Zaidi (MZ) research for development (R4D) program in Tanzania has been implemented since 2012. MZ is implemented under the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Livestock (formerly Livestock and Fish) with International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) as the CGIAR centers involved. The program is jointly implemented with two national research partners, namely, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and Tanzania Livestock Research Institute (TALIRI), the Tanzanian Dairy Board (TDB), Local Government Authorities (LGAs), various local and international NGOs and the private sector in smallholder dairy value chains. Advanced research institutes based in northern countries have also collaborated in MZ on an ad-hoc basis.

MZ vision is an inclusive and sustainable development of the smallholder dairy value chain over a decade, with three major goals.  The first is for smallholder farmers to have reliable and consistent access to quality inputs and services that enable them to efficiently achieve high dairy productivity; the second for smallholder farmers have access to an inclusive, reliable, well-coordinated, and efficient dairy products marketing arrangement with resultant improvement in household income and livelihoods.  The third is directed at consumers rather than producers and aims to ensure that poor consumers can access quality, safe, and nutritious dairy products at affordable prices, reflected by an increase in their per capita consumption of the dairy products. MZ aims to understand best ways in which to connect research and development efforts. Underlying this testing of various technology and institutional innovations to address identified constraints and working through a theory of change to attract investments to take successful lessons to scale.