Improving Community Livelihood by Introducing Cassava Production Technology and Access to Reliable Cassava Market in Tanga Region.

The study on improving Kiruku community livelihoods by introducing cassava production technology and access to reliable market is the result of Community Needs Assessment conducted to identify the real needs of that particular community. The Kiruku community identified lack of an improved cassava production technology and reliable market as their most pressing needs that’s why the project of improving community livelihoods by introducing cassava production technology and access reliable market was introduced in that particular area to address the problem. The researcher used various methods to collect data and revealed that the Kiruku community suffering from income and food poverty as 11 people who interviewed which is equivalent 23.3% commented that most of people in Kiruku afforded one meal per day and Kiruku community earn not more than 150,000 Tanzanian Shillings per month the amount which is below National minimum salaries and wages. The majority of Kiruku community members (83.34%) commented that they needed cassava crop to be improved because it was the major source of youth employment and income, The project of improving community livelihoods by introducing cassava production technology and access to reliable market came in to address the above community needs as the project introduced cassava production technology, reliable cassava marketing system, raise community awareness and introduce project basket fund to support farmers activities. The project has managed to conduct some the activities including sensitizing youth to establish cassava farm, provides necessary advice pertaining to project activities, importance of achieving the project goals and some of activities was not yet executed including annual project evaluation due to various technical reasons which are well described in various chapters of this dissertation. Keywords: Kiruku Community, Livelihoods, Cassava Production, Technology