Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute

  1.0 INTRODUCTION

  On Thursday 23^rd to 24^th January, 2025 TARI Mikocheni hosted an Internal Programme Review (IPR) for three TARI Centres (Mikocheni, Mlingano and Kibaha) as per TARI directives. The meeting        was    honoured by distinguished TARI leaders from TARI headquarters including the appointed research team which was led by Dr. Lameck Makoye. TARI leaders who participated in the meeting          were TARI      Director General, Dr. Thomas Bwana and Director of the Research and Innovation Department, Dr. Deusdedith Mbanzibwa.

   The main objective of the meeting was to share research experience, knowledge and expertise among researchers. In addition, the meeting was an avenue for discussions on various research matters;          assessment of project concept notes, proposals and research progresses as per TARI edicts.

In the opening remarks, Dr. Deusdedith Mbanzibwa thanked the participants and particularly Centre Director/Managers of Mlingano, Kibaha and Mikocheni centres for participating and facilitating their staffs to attend the meeting. He explicitly acknowledges the impressive work of TARI Mikocheni for hosting and organizing the meeting. He also insisted on the importance of IPR and work plans on the projects and research works. He further reminded presenters to ensure high quality of their presentation slides and showcase presentation skills throughout the activity.

Photo 1: Dr. Deusdedith Mbanzibwa - Director for Research and Innovation, giving opening remarks during Internal Programme Review (IPR) meeting on 23 January, 2025 in Dar Es Salaam.

   2.0 REMARKS FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL

   Apart from applauding the organizing Centre, the TARI Director General thanked participants for reaching a great milestone in research platform. The following were insisted in his speech;

·         Researchers should develop knowledge through researches which could later be transformed into technology and  play a vital role in job creation in order to be distinctive,

·         TARI researchers should consider doing research in whole value chain; soil nutrition, crop improvement, farm management, socio economic and marketing, engineering, applied computing and statistics (i.e modelling),

·         TARI staffs should bring new research ideas; very impressed with ideas from Young Scientists Awards,

·         TARI has plans to launch a new department of Engineering and applied computing,

·         TARI staffs should adhere to work regulations and make change in the institute i.e working hard etc.,

·         All staff debts including salary arrears leave claims, have been paid. Geo politics should stop,

·         Leaders; Centre directors/managers will be given their entitled benefits as per Government regulations,

·         Rehabilitation of centres’ facilities; houses, laboratories, offices, are still going on,

·         Encouraging staffs to further their studies in order to fill existing gaps,

·         More researches on socio economics should be encouraged to link a value chain,

·         Centre Directors/Managers should reinforce laws and regulations and discipline staffs where possible,

·         TARI will be transformed to a better institution; however, transfers are allowed according to the staff needs.

Photo 2: Dr. Thomas Bwana - Director General, giving remarks during Internal Programme Review (IPR) meeting on 24 January, 2025 in Dar Es Salaam.

   3.0 OVERVIEW OF THE PARTICIPANTS      

  The meeting was attended by 65 participants; 11 TARI supporting staffs, 51 researchers and 2 coconut nursery stakeholders. As expected, female composition was low (38.46%) as compared to their          counterparts. Gender composition of participants was as shown in the table below;

  Table 1: Gender composition of the participants in relation to their Centres/Organization

4.0 PRESENTATIONS

 Presentations included research findings, research progresses, Project proposals and Concept notes. Presentations were organized in sessions;

·         Plant breeding, Seed production and Agronomy,

·         Entomology and Pest Management,

·         Soil Science, Land use Planning and Plant Nutrition,

·         Biotechnology and Disease Management,

·         Post-harvest, Extension and Technology transfer,

·         Project proposals and Concept notes.

  After presentations, comments and questions were raised for clarifications and improvements. For the case of proposals, following the discussion, there was a vote for accepting or not accepting the          proposed research work. Out of 13 project proposals, 12 were accepted with minor revisions and 1 required major review.