This report presents the value chain analysis for pigeonpeas in the South-eastern Tanzania.
The study is part of the ICRISAT project “Enhancing Productivity of Groundnut and Pigeon
pea Cropping Systems in Eastern Africa”. Specifically, it forms part of Output 3: Structure,
conduct and performance of value chains for groundnut and pigeon pea. In this output
includes two activities: firstly Map existing value chains and identify constraints on market
performance and secondly test innovations to enhance performance of the value chain. The information for analysing the value chain for pigeon pea were collected in Tanzania,
specifically focusing in the South-eastern part of Tanzania which includes Mtwara and Lindi
regions and Tunduru district in Ruvuma region. The work was conducted in three phases:
initial scoping, in-depth interviews of different actors along the chain and final write-up
between mid-March and July 2013 as collaboration between Naliendele Agricultural
Research Institute (NARI) and the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), UK.
The findings revealed that, Southern Tanzania (and Northern Mozambique) has great
potential for increased pigeon pea production. Production of pigeon pea is relatively stable in
the North of Tanzania but growing quickly in the Southern Region. This suggests that
traders have fully exploited the potential in the North and are now competing for material
from the Southern production areas. Improved seeds and relatively small changes in
management practices would substantially increase supply.