Preserved vegetables in Tanzania There is a growing demand in the Western world for a variety of vegetables the whole year round. Costs of fresh vegetables during fall and winter are high because of air transport. Consumers are shifting to less expensive solutions such as preserved vegetables also since it is demonstrated that the quality of preserved vegetables is still good after processing and vitamins are not affected.The applicant Baltussen Holding B.V. (part of Jamael Food Group N.V.), is looking for opportunities to expand its range of products in this case jarred haricot verts. One of the sources of haricots verts in Western Europe is Tanzania where it is grown for this market during the northern hemisphere fall and wintertime.For this purpose, the applicant will establish a joint venture with the local partner N.G. Emmanuel and Company Limited and the third partner Fahari B.V. for the production and marketing of high quality preserved vegetables in Tanzania for the Western European market and in a later stage for other markets as well. A processing plant will be established in the Moshi area where the raw material will be purchased from the local partner and local producers. After processing, the jarred vegetables are transported to and sold in the Netherlands. The products are sold under private labels for a large number of clients. The advantage for the local farmers will be, that producing will not only take place for a limited period of time for the export market (fresh market) but due to the project they can continue to produce a high quality product during the whole year round.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The project partners have implemented their well elaborated CSR policy. The joint venture conducted an independent Social Compliance Factory Assessment, which showed that they performed very well with regard to CSRJV engaged an NGO called Pamoja Tunaweza that conducted a health awareness training, not only in HIV/AIDS but also other common diseases.The factory will be ISO 9001 and HACCP certified. The local partner said during verification that GlobalGAP certification for the outgrowers seemed logical as well and was to be discussed with Baltussen.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsSalaries of employees are 41% above the minimum wage in the sector. Staff will get on-going training, both in hygiene, food standards and processing techniques as well as in environmental issues and HIV/AIDS awareness. Fringe benefits will also include health insurance, pension funds contributions, free lunches and work clothes. Furthermore, the joint venture will respect the freedom of employees to associate with any organisation and no form of discrimination will be tolerated, especially with respect to gender.•	Innovation/Transfer of knowledgeUntil now there is no vegetables-in-jar preservation factory present in Tanzania.•	Chain effectsFarmers presently depend on the short period of time (about 3 months) that they might be able to produce for the European fresh market. The rest of the time they are depending on the willingness of exporters to contract their crops for the Kenyan market and other parts of Tanzania.The project will issue fixed quantity and price contracts to the farmers. This secures income, gives the farmer the opportunity to build up a sustainable farming business. The local partner GlobalGAP certified himself, said during verification that GlobalGAP certification for the outgrowers seemed logical as well. Farmers will be trained within the project in quality vegetable production and delivery control.Regarding the number of outgrowers and the volume these will provide, Baltussen is very conservative in his estimates, yet not in his ambitions. Baltussen is very hesitant to commit to a certain number of outgrowers of volume from outgrowers. N.G. Emmanuel expects to work by the end of the project with 100 outgrowers, divided over 2 cooperatives and expect them to supply about 5 tons of beans per week.A number of local companies such as bean seed companies, agro-equipment and supply companies, transport and ship loading companies will benefit from the project.About 70 to 80 % of the crop will qualify for the European market. The remaining beans will be too short, too long, or not straight enough. However, the consumption quality will be good and therefore these beans will be sold to local market at a suitable price.•	Impact on the sectorIn the longer term the partners expect the project to lead to a potentially big, yet still uncertain impact to the sector as a whole. About 5 to 7 years from now, they expect that the volumes of jars will be approximately 8 to 10 million jars per year. That would provide the scale necessary to introduce a branded product which relates to small farmers in Tanzania.•	EnvironmentCompared to the export of fresh vegetables the jarred products have a smaller energy/carbon footprint being transported by ship.Due to proper training in sustainable farming practises farmers will use less agro chemicals. An EIA will be part of the project.•	Position of womenTaken the type of work into account the joint venture will contract relatively more women for sorting and filling by hand. Apart from that women will be contracted for the quality control as well. Women will be encouraged to work at the joint venture. The number of women in medium/high positions is small though.•	Impact on food safetyThe joint venture itself will only export their products through Baltussen, but the outgrowers will sell the B-quality (20% to 30%) on the local market. Also, due to the training, the outgrowers might also be able to increase productivity of the other crops that they grow, like tomatoes and maize. To establish a production and marketing company to preserve vegetables (first starting with haricot verts, later other vegetables are added) in the Moshi area, Tanzania, and to transport the product to Europe.At the end of the project, the capacity will