Historical Background

Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) Ilonga, Kilosa  was established in 1943 as a Central Research Centre (CRC)  to improve cotton production in the Eastern Cotton Growing Area (ECGA) and later in 1989 it embarked  into Food crops for the Eastern Zone (which comprises Morogoro, Tanga, Coast and Dar Es Salaam) of Tanzania.  ARI-Ilonga belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives. The institute has seven commodity research sub-programs namely maize, grain legumes (cowpea, greengram, soybean and pigeon peas), sorghum and millets, oilseeds (sunflower, sesame and groundnuts), cotton, soil and natural resource and crop protection.   Being one of the oldest research institutes in Tanzania, ARI Ilonga is very proud of her history in research especially for the achievements in developing technologies appropriate for farmers in Tanzania. ARI-Ilonga also coordinates research activities for research institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives in the Eastern Zone namely  Cholima Agro-Scientific Research Institute, ARI-Kibaha, Mikocheni-ARI, Kilombero Agricultural Training and Research Institute (KATRIN) and ARI- Mlingano