The U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) vision to create a fully modernized, self-sustaining lab with the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL), the certified feed quality lab for the Tanzanian government, may come to fruition by the end of this year.
Creating a fully-renovated and operational lab to test quality of feed ingredients is one major objective of the Council’s Food for Progress program in Tanzania. This effort may encourage the Tanzanian poultry industry to adopt up-to-date management practices, support the industry’s movement to larger scale operations and encourage the use of higher quality feed rations.
“The long-term view is that the lab will be fully functional, personnel will be trained and there will be total buy-in by the industry and the government to send samples here,� said Heiko Koster, a USGC consultant who has provided oversight of the lab’s development since the beginning of the program in March 2014.
The lab is already benefiting from many repairs and updates including improvements to the lab’s water source; storage and piping; the electric wiring and fixtures; and all other internal facilities.
While renovating the physical lab is important, the Council is also working to engage the support and motivation of the lab staff in order for it to become a success.
To this end, an additional consultant, Tokkie Groenwald of SimSoft Development CC in South Africa, visited the lab in July to work with local staff. His goal was to develop the staff’s performance to the point that they can be fully accountable for the lab and envision the lab’s future progress themselves.
“The biggest problem we have is that the people aren’t empowering themselves to drive the project and find the solutions,� Groenwald said. “This is often the problem with projects like these, people tend to sit back and expect ideas, things and everything to be driven from the outside. Our objective is to motivate them to be able to handle it and do it themselves.�
Koster and Groenwald are providing oversight of the lab development with the hope of creating a strategy that ensures this lab will develop into a successful entity that can continue to prosper, driven by the new energy and confidence under the leadership of the current lab personnel.
Click here to read past Global Update articles about the Tanzania Food for Progress program.