What she wants to learn now is how to make more from what she grows.
At 23, Jackline is among 98 young mothers participating in a two-month vocational training programme in sunflower oil processing, delivered by Mafiga Women and Youth Development Organization (MWAYODEO) in partnership with Swisscontact Tanzania.
She joined the programme with a specific ambition: to establish her own sunflower oil-processing business.
It is a different future from the one she had imagined when she completed secondary school in 2022.
Jackline had hoped to pursue a career in pharmacy.
After passing her secondary school examinations with Division Three, she secured an opportunity to study for a diploma in pharmacy at Ruaha Catholic University in Iringa.
But the annual college fees were approximately TZS 1.5 million (469 CHF), an amount her mother could not afford.
She remained at home, helping her mother with domestic activities. During this period, she became pregnant and later gave birth to her daughter.
With little support from her partner in caring for their child, Jackline had to reconsider her plans.
Returning to college was no longer her immediate priority. She needed a way to earn an income while caring for her daughter.
Sunflower farming offered one possibility.
She began growing the crop in her village, harvesting five bags of sunflower seeds from her one-acre farm and earning around TZS 500,000 (156 CHF) from sales. While the income helped support her and her daughter, she soon recognised that selling seeds was only one way of earning from the crop.
She wanted to explore what happened after the harvest.
When Jackline heard about the sunflower oil-processing training, she saw an opportunity to build on the farming experience she already had.
The programme introduces participants to sunflower processing and business management, with the aim of helping young mothers identify livelihood opportunities within their communities.
For Jackline, the practical sessions have opened her eyes to what she could produce from the crop she grows.
The distinction matters to her.
As a farmer, Jackline earns an income from the five bags of sunflower seeds she harvested this year from her one-acre farm. By learning to process them, she hopes to explore additional products and markets.
She is learning how sunflower seeds move through the processing stages, from oil extraction to refining and preparation for sale.
These are skills she hopes to apply in a business of her own.
The business potential is one of the reasons she is motivated to learn. Current market estimates in the area show that one bag of sunflower seeds can be purchased for approximately TZS 100,000 (31 CHF). It can produce about 34 litres of sunflower oil. At an average selling price of TZS 6,000 (1.87 CHF) per litre, the oil can generate around TZS 204,000 (63.7 CHF) in revenue. The remaining by-product, commonly known as oil cake and widely used as poultry feed, can be sold for approximately TZS 31,500 (9.8 CHF).
Together, these products generate an estimated TZS 235,500 (73.5 CHF) in revenue per bag, leaving a potential profit of about TZS 135,500 (42 CHF) after deducting the cost of the sunflower seeds.
For Jackline, the figures demonstrate how value addition can create opportunities beyond crop production alone.
Jackline has not forgotten her ambition to become a pharmacist. But her circumstances have changed and so have her immediate priorities.
She wants to complete the training, strengthen her business skills and eventually establish a sunflower oil-processing enterprise that can provide an income for herself and her daughter.
The project will continue to support young mother groups as they transition from training into business activities. While it does not provide processing machinery, young mother access equipment through private-sector operators who hosted their internship program during training within their communities.
Young mother groups, including Jackline’s group of ten members, have received essential business start-up inputs from the project such as sunflower seeds, buckets, basins, filter cloths, weighing scales, tarpaulins for drying crops, pallets, storage containers, labels, sacks, oil-processing costs, oil cages and spades.
For now, she is still a sunflower farmer learning a new trade.
The next step is to turn those skills into a business.
And if she succeeds, the sunflower crop she once sold in bags could become the foundation of a thriving enterprise, creating a more secure future for both her and her daughter.
This project is financed by the Irene M. Staehelin Foundation. It is part of the Swisscontact Development Programme, co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA.