Focus Areas

Farming

PASS Trust supports agribusiness entrepreneurs to improve their farming practices in all crops except tobacco by providing access to financial and technical services. This support seeks to increase productivity by increasing yield, improving post-harvest storage, and access to crop markets. The main objective of this support is to ensure the usage of good farming practices, increase productivity, reduce post–harvest loss, and provide reliable storage facilities.

Crop Trading

PASS Trust supports agribusiness entrepreneurs engaged in crop trading and hence creates market opportunities for farmers. This is achieved by linking traders with financial institutions to access loans for the purchase of produce from farmers during the harvest period, assisting crop traders to build warehouses, and financing their business operations.

Agri-processing

Currently, most agricultural crops in Tanzania are marketed in their raw form. In efforts to add value to those crops, it is important that post-harvest processing is done. PASS Trust assists in these efforts by facilitating the acquisition of processing plants, machinery, tools, and equipment for processing agricultural crops. This intervention is done through enabling access to finance or lease financing.

Livestock

Animal keeping and related activities are important in poverty alleviation, food security enhancement, employment opportunities, and environmental conservation. PASS Trust supports financing of livestock projects involving cattle fattening, cattle trading, dairy production, poultry keeping, piggery, small ruminant production, and other animal-keeping projects. It also supports commercial hay production.

Mechanization

In promoting modern farming technology, mechanization is a significant component to enable effective farming and efficient use of other resources. PASS Trust advocates and supports the acquisition of farm equipment such as tractors, combined harvesters, and other agricultural machinery as may be needed by projects.

Irrigation

Farms operated under irrigation projects provide assurance of harvest at higher yield levels. This could help in food security and increase commercial crop productivity. PASS Trust assists farmers in accessing credit facilities for financing the acquisition of irrigation equipment for their projects.

Beekeeping

Beekeeping is an important income-generating activity. It also helps in food production, pollination processes, and overall biodiversity improvement. PASS Trust plays a role in the development of bee-keeping projects by facilitating access to finance for the acquisition of beehives, harvesting gears, processing equipment, and packaging as well as marketing of bee-keeping products to beekeeping entrepreneurs.

Horticulture

Horticulture is a special line for vegetables, flowers, and fruit production. This line involves modernizing the farming practices as well as the application of farm inputs and some level of mechanization. PASS Trust is a stakeholder in support of horticultural projects. This is done through the facilitation of access to credit facilities and by facilitating knowledge sharing, market linkages, and farmer group formation.

Aquaculture

At present aquaculture is largely a subsistence activity practiced by poor households in the coastal and inland areas but the benefits arising from it are several: it contributes to people’s requirements for animal protein, particularly in rural areas where there are no capture fisheries, and it provides employment opportunities and is a source of income. PASS Trust plays a significant part in facilitating access to financial resources for investment in fish farming from fishpond construction, feeds, management, storage facilities, processing, and marketing.

Transportation

Once harvested, crops need to be transported to the market. Transportation service involves the use of trucks and other facilities. PASS Trust assists crop transporters, either involved in crop trading or dealing solely in crop transportation service to obtain funds for acquisition of motor vehicles and other equipment. This is done through linking transporters to financial institutions for loan funds and for guaranteeing such loans.

Input Trading

As part of good agricultural practices, the use of agricultural inputs is important for the assurance of yield and other aspects of agricultural productivity. Dealers and manufacturers of agricultural inputs may expand their volumes through loan funds from banks under PASS Trust facilitation and guarantee. It is thus possible to guarantee loans to farmers for procurement of inputs or support the agricultural input traders to obtain loans to grow their level of supplies.