Once Failing, Now Leading: The young woman who became a lifeline for 4,000 farmers

KAGERA: Marry Msengi’s journey is the kind of story that makes you pause. Once, she was a struggling farmer in Bugorora in Kagera Tanzania, working the soil with traditional methods that gave her almost nothing in return.

After months of sweat and hope, her entire maize field produced just four bags. The disappointment was crushing.

Farming felt like a dead end, so she walked away, trying her luck in other small businesses. But no matter where she turned, success kept slipping through her fingers. Life stood still.

Then came a turning point. Through the Youth Entrepreneurship for the Future of Food and Agriculture (YEFFA) program, Marry was introduced to a new world in the border town of Mtukula.

There, she met major seed and input suppliers, exchanged ideas with large-scale farmers, and found guidance through Village-Based Advisors (VBAs). For the first time, she stopped seeing agriculture as a battle for survival and began to see it as a business — one that could transform not just her life, but many others.

“YEFFA opened my eyes,” Marry recalls. “I realized farming is not about waiting for luck — it’s about using the right knowledge, inputs, and networks. That was the beginning of my turnaround.”

Armed with new skills, quality inputs, and a renewed fire, Marry returned to the fields she had once abandoned. The difference was night and day. Where she once harvested just 4 bags of maize, she now reaps over 20. She diversified into rice farming, and her yields multiplied.

The land that once symbolized failure became the very ground on which her success was built.

Today, Marry owns an agro-dealer shop that serves three villages. She has built a network of 10 VBAs who collectively reach more than 4,000 farmers. Her shop has become a trusted hub for genuine inputs, while VBAs earn commissions by linking farmers to her business.

“When farmers walk into my shop, I see myself in them,” she said.

“I know their struggles, and I want them to know farming can be profitable. My success means nothing if others are left behind.” The farmers agree. Her leadership is reshaping the community.

“Marry may be new in this business, but her shop has become the heartbeat of our farming community,” says Mathew Syantemi, a VBA in Missenyi.

“I serve 75 farmers, and the inputs I supply all come from her. We trust her because she delivers and we actually benefits from her as we receive commissions”

For Marry, this is more than a business. It is service. It is empowerment. It is pride. In just a short time, she has turned her story around: securing a sustainable livelihood for her family, buying farmland, and even setting aside a plot to build her future home.

Her journey is proof that when young women are given the right support, knowledge, and opportunities, they can rise from struggle to success — and along the way, lift entire farming communities with them.