This agrobiodiversity case study (No.5) from Tanzania is the fifth of six case studies prepared by forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) for the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF).

It describes the actions of Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima na Wafugaji Mkoa wa Arusha (MVIWAARUSHA). The FFPO represents almost 12,500 smallholder farmers organised into 446 local groups, including 46 ward-level networks and six district-level networks in Northern Tanzania.

The members of MVIWAARUSHA are smallholder farmers who also rearing livestock, but with a strong focus on agroecology, using agroforestry systems that introduce trees on farms. Retained trees and woodlots within the homesteads of smallholder farmers offer fruit, lumber, poles, firewood, windbreaks, shade, livestock fodder and soil erosion control. Members plant, sell and consume more than 20 commercial crops and 10 types of livestock (including bees) and extract a much wider range of less common vegetables, fruit and medicinal plants for regular use from the patchwork of forests and farms.