Tourism Meets Nutrition: Mobile Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Vending wagons to Make Cities Beautiful

Tanzanian Towns and Cities are about to get interesting again, albeit tastier!

The country is launching attractive wagons to serve as Mobile Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Kiosks in urban centers.

The initiative, a brainchild of the Tanzania Horticulture Association, aims at promoting nutrition, hygiene, youth employment as well as tourism in major cities.

The project is currently starting with Arusha, the country’s gateway to Northern Zone attractions.

“We also intend to use the mobile kiosks to add value to horticultural produce, especially fruits and vegetables,” explains the TAHA Executive Officer, Dr Jackline Mkindi.

So far there are five prototype fresh fruits and vegetable wagons, three in Arusha, One in Mbeya and another in Dodoma.

The Mobile Kiosks come equipped with solar panels, clean water system, shelves that permit air circulation.

They also have ample room to provide shelter against weather elements and wheels that enable the wagons to be moved from one location to another.

These carts also feature waste disposal bins, colorful external panels and bright interior settings.

The Arusha Regional Commissioner, John Mongela who officially launched the project, lauded the move.

He pointed out that the kiosks will not provide reliable mobile eateries, but they also help to keep the city clean and beautify its streets and landscapes.

“It will also be more useful if each of the mobile kiosks get serial digits identifying the operator and their places of service, so that in future such numbers will be the basis for securing loans from local financial institutions,” stated Mongela.

As far as the Regional Commissioner is concerned, the new mobile kiosks idea is yet another boost to the country’s agricultural development.

The Arusha City Mayor, Maximilian Irange rolled out a special grant offer of 20 such wagons to twenty young people in the precinct.

The youth, now stand to get interest free loans from his officer through TAHA, to procure the kiosks from TAHA for their fruits, Vegetables and fresh food business.

“I also wish that the kiosks will also be used as exemplary outlets for healthy eating by stocking organically grown food, especially fruits and vegetables which is currently the global trend,” said Mayor Irange.

And apart from fruits and vegetables, the kiosks can also offer juice, beverages, salads and other forms of snacks for the open-air dining.

Executed through TAHA and TRIAS in conjunction with City Councils, the Tanzania mobile fresh fruits and vegetable kiosks are still in the pilot phase at the moment with more roll outs expected in near future.

Trias is an international development organization headquartered in Brussels working to help make the dreams of enterprising people all over the world come true.

Ritha Tarimo the TRIAS Coordinator said they always support projects targeting to uplift people’s lives and the mobile fruits and vegetable wagons is a welcome idea.

“This is part of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, which Arusha signed in 2017 in becoming one of the more than 100 cities signatories in the world,” explains Dr Mkindi the TAHA Executive.

The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact is an international agreement between cities around the globe, aiming at developing sustainable food systems that are inclusive, resilient, safe and diverse.

The Milan agreement intends to provide healthy and affordable food to all people in a human rights-based framework that minimizes waste and conserves biodiversity while adapting to and mitigating impacts of climate change.

Through the pact, urban centers wishing to develop more sustainable urban food systems will be supported through fostering city to city cooperation and best practices exchange.