TANZANIA AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Their core work

TARI is Tanzania's national agricultural research system, conducting applied research to improve crop productivity and farming system sustainability across smallholder contexts in East Africa. Their H2020 work centres on sustainable agricultural intensification — specifically adapting integrated pest and disease management innovations and facilitating knowledge exchange between East and West African farming communities. They provide European-led research consortia with authentic ground access to Tanzanian field conditions, traditional crop varieties, and local farmer networks that are otherwise inaccessible to institutions based outside the region. Their applied focus spans the full chain from agronomic research through value chain integration and multi-actor knowledge transfer.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both projects began in 2020, so the keyword split does not reflect genuine temporal evolution but rather two parallel tracks of work. The earlier-coded keywords (EWA-BELT) reflect a broad systems lens: farming systems, traditional crops, land recovery, IPM, value chains, and multi-actor coordination — a diagnostic and knowledge-brokering orientation. The more recent-coded keywords (UPSCALE) are technology-specific and deployment-oriented: push-pull crops, yield outcomes, scaling at multiple levels, and dissemination. The overall signal is a move from broad systems framing toward focused, technology-driven scaling — though this reflects project design differences more than a genuine strategic shift over years.

TARI appears to be deepening its role as an East African implementation partner for agroecological technologies, with push-pull intercropping emerging as a signature area where they can offer both field evidence and scaling infrastructure.

How they like to work

TARI participates exclusively as a consortium partner — they have not led any H2020 project — which positions them as a trusted field-reality anchor for European-coordinated consortia rather than a project initiator. They operate within large consortia (36 unique partners across 2 projects), suggesting comfort working in complex, multi-institution teams where their role is to provide African ground truth rather than administrative leadership. For future consortium builders, this means TARI is a reliable, low-friction partner that brings essential local legitimacy and field access without competing for coordination control.

TARI has built a network of 36 unique partners spanning 17 countries through just two projects — a sign that both consortia were genuinely broad and internationally composed. Their network is likely anchored in African research institutions and European agricultural science bodies, reflecting the East-West Africa bridging mandate of EWA-BELT.

What sets them apart

TARI is one of the very few national agricultural research institutes from Sub-Saharan Africa participating in H2020, giving it a rare position as a bridge between EU-funded science and Tanzanian smallholder realities. No European institution can replicate what TARI offers: field trial capacity in East African agroecological conditions, access to local farmer networks, and institutional knowledge of traditional crop varieties under real climate and soil constraints. For any consortium addressing food security, land degradation, or pest management in Africa, TARI's inclusion is the difference between research that gets tested in the lab and research that gets tested in a field in Dodoma.

Highlights from their portfolio

• UPSCALE
  Largest budget of TARI's H2020 portfolio (EUR 241,500) and focused on scaling a proven agroecological innovation — push-pull intercropping — making it the clearest demonstration of TARI's field implementation capacity.
• EWA-BELT
  Unusual cross-continental scope linking East and West African farming knowledge, positioning TARI within a rare pan-African knowledge network rather than a purely bilateral EU-Africa structure.