Blog From hard labor to higher profits: Tanzania’s smallholders win big through mechanized threshing power
Tanzanian smallholders are boosting profits and reducing labor through affordable Multi-Crop Threshers. The machines empower women and youth, cut losses, create jobs, and turn farming from survival into sustainable, community-driven prosperity
For years, smallholder farmers across Tanzania toiled under the sun from dawn to dusk, their hands calloused, their backs bent, and their hopes dimmed by the weight of hard labor. Despite all their effort, profits remained painfully small. Without access to affordable machinery, manual threshing of common beans, maize, or sunflower was an exhausting and days-long task. Grains spoiled easily, post-harvest losses mounted, and dreams of financial progress were left scattered like chaff in the wind.
For Amina Nyange, a mother and farmer from Tanzania’s Dodoma Region, each harvest season was a test of endurance.
“I used to depend entirely on manual labor,” she recalls. “It took me days to finish threshing, and I would lose much of my harvest to spoilage.”
Then, one day, things changed. Local youth technicians introduced Amina to a Multi-Crop Thresher (MCT) - a portable machine that can thresh, shell, and clean more than nine crops, from maize and beans to sunflower and sorghum. Developed by Imara Technology Ltd, a Tanzanian company supported by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT through the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA), this simple piece of technology would prove revolutionary.
Within hours of her first use, Amina realized the scale of transformation the machine could bring. What once took her an entire day could now be done in just an hour - faster, cleaner, and more profitable.
“The difference was immediate,” she says, beaming. “I was able to sell cleaner grain at a better price, pay the machine operator, and even save some money. I bought sacks to store my maize and used the profits to support my grandchildren.”
Amina’s story is not unique. Across Tanzania, farmers are rewriting their own success stories with MCTs. In Rubeho Ward, Gairo District in Morogoro, a farmers’ group led by Jonas Senyagwa decided to take control of their post-harvest destiny. The group of 30 members - 77% of them women - pooled small savings from 2% insurance deductions on their loans to purchase a Multi-Crop Thresher worth 2.4 million Tanzanian shillings.
Since May 2025, their machine has processed over 250 bags of maize and 170 bags of sunflower, turning what used to be wasted time and labor into steady income.
“We charge 2,000 shillings per bag,” Jonas explains. “The money goes back into our savings and helps women expand their farms. It’s not just a machine, but a lifeline.”
Cover Image: Amina Nyange stands proudly beside her thresher on her farm in Dodoma. Credit: Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT/Yohane Chideya
