• Tanzania’s agriculturesector holds one-third of the country’s GDP and employs 75 per cent of the population.
• The government target is to raise crop exports by 48 per cent to $3.5 billion by 2025 as food shipments rise to overtake the value that Tanzania earns from its traditional export crops.
• Tanzania earned over $1.2 billion with the export of agricultural commodities in 2020

Numbers show that farmers are Tanzania’s most essential workforce. Tanzania’s agriculture sector holds one-third of the country’s GDP and employs 75 per cent of the population.

Available data shows that approximately 80 per cent of Tanzania’s exports are agricultural products such as coffee, cotton, sisal, tea, cashew nuts and tobacco, to mention a few.

From 2014 to 2020, the above crops benefitted the nation’s export baskets. Tanzania earned over $1.2 billion with the export of agricultural commodities in 2020, according to available data from Statista.

Cashew nuts recorded the highest export value among the main agricultural exports, at roughly $360 million. Similarly, export of horticultural items generated $274 million.

Interestingly, while Tanzania floats within its steady economic growth over the past decade, 49 million citizens still linger in the less $1.90-a-day poverty space, according to a World Bank 2011 report.

The latter indicates a myriad of things. First, the sector has the potential to increase incomes and improve lives. Two, feed the region and the globe at large, and lastly, the industry is favourable enough to offer incentives and opportunities to better ordinary Tanzanians investing in it.

With plenty of arable land and countless market opportunities to furnish the food needy locations, it is debatable whether Tanzania’s agriculture is still the nation’s economic backbone.

Tanzania is still strong across halls of international discussions, and its commitment is unwavering towards agricultural revolution. In the 2023 AGRIF Forum, President Samia Suluhu Hassan insisted on delivering her stern vision to reality.

“Tanzania is committed to entering into regional and international food markets to sustain food demands across nations’ explained President Samia. Throughout the years, experts and economists have urged the government to forge potent links between rapidly growing sectors such as mining and telecommunication and the agriculture sector.

History has demonstrated various challenges in the sector marring the growth, including funding, technological intervention, and market access. However, the latter is no longer a; neither are the options to realize them.

For instance, the past decline in cashew growth was triggered by trading raw cashew nuts while the market/consumers demanded value-added produce.

Meanwhile, Tanzania is streamlining efforts such as reducing costs by making fertilizer self-sufficient and prioritising the utilization of limestone for domestic companies to downplay the cost of production and increase access to quality and improved seeds.

Tanzania is at a crossroads between realizing its industrial revolution and diversifying the sector to improve the economy.

Approximately 45 per cent of all land area in Tanzania is dedicated to agriculture. In 201,9, the nation’s 40 hectares of agricultural land favoured the country to make up about 30 per cent of the nation’s GDP share.

In 2012, agriculture had a 26.5 per cent share of the GDP. The latter rose to 29.7 per cent in 2021.

Agro-growth in Tanzania inevitable

Tanzania’s government forecasts a $1.820 billion rise in crop exports in the three years from now. The forecast hinges on the plan to increase agriculture production as a share of Tanzania’s economy.

A 2022 report by The Citizenindicated that the target is to raise crop exports by 48 per cent to $3.5 billion by 2025 as food shipments rise to overtake the value that Tanzania earns from its traditional export crops.

Further, down the line, the target is to raise crop exports by 48 per cent to $3.5 billion by 2025 as food shipments rise to overtake the value that Tanzania earns from its traditional export crops.

Also, the target will be realised by increasing the value of food crop exports to $2 billion while that of traditional crops (cashew nuts, tobacco, cotton, coffee, tea, sisal and cloves) to $1.5 billion.

On the matter, Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe said the forecast is triggered by an outstanding export growth shown by food crops in the last three years compared to traditional crops.

“Our exports have been supported by food crops growing in the last three years. Exports of cash crops, cotton, cashews and tobacco, have tremendously dropped,” he said in a tweet, backing it up with figures on the state of the nation’s economy for the entire 2021/22 financial year.

According to statistics, the export of only four traditional crops’ grew: cloves (202.9pc), sisal (14.8pc), coffee (6.9pc) and tea (1.5pc). “But the export of remaining traditional crops declined: cashews by 55.8 per cent from $359.6 million in 2020 to $159 million in 2021. Tobacco export declined by 14.3 per cent from $148.7 million to $127.5 million,” the report reads in part.

On a comparative basis, the sector has several significant downsides and developments. Cotton exports dropped by 7.1 per cent from $87.5 million to $81.5 million.

In he 2022/23 Financial  Year budget in Parliament, Mr Bashe said Uganda imported an average of 136,377.97 tonnes of rice from Tanzania annually in the last three years, equivalent to 56.42 per cent of exported rice, other countries and the quantity of rice in tonnes imported from Tanzania in brackets are Rwanda (37,759.57), Burundi (4,829.27), Democratic Republic of Congo (4,796.33) and Zambia (404.00). Others are India (234.20), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malawi (151.67) and others (2,588.60).

Just like any industry, growth is inevitable and spread across subsectors. In this case, the minister finds employment opportunities in associated sub-sectors crucial.

“Reaching 2025, one million jobs will be created for the youth and women. Also, raw materials access for value addition factories will be increased by 100 per cent in 2030,” Bashe added.

Meanwhile, the minister commented that “access to agricultural loans will increase from nine per cent in 2022 to 30 per cent, and post-harvest losses will be reduced to five per cent from the present 35 per cent to five per cent by 2030.”

Tanzanian farmers struggle with surplus production under the rain-fed farming system, at least most small-scale to mid-scale farmers. In the same spirit,t self-sufficiency and exporting the surplus will increase agricultural land subjected to irrigation by half (8.5 million hectares) by 203; therefore,e increasing crop production through irrigation from 10 to 50 per cent will be attained.

On a broader scale, edible products have been a thorn in the markets and sector at large. The rise in prices and importation have impacted the growth of local producers.

Thus, the minister pointed out that, during the said period, the government would reduce the shortage of cooking oil and make sunflowers, which would enable the country to be edible oil self-sufficient and export the surplus.

“We will invest in 135 palm oil plantations and increase horticultural crops exports from $750 million to $2 billion by 2030”, Bashe added.

The sector is expected to be friendly enough to consider inclusion factors as the ministry anticipates that by 2025, one million jobs will be created for the youth and women.

On a larger scale, Tanzania is playing the big game and expecting to win massively, a move that is highly dependent on a relatively strict strategy and seamless execution to ensure a steady flow of growth and competition with existing and ever-evolving markets.