Agriculture
From The Report: Tanzania 2018
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Agriculture is undoubtedly the largest and most important sector of the Tanzanian economy, with the country benefitting from a diverse production base that includes livestock, staple food crops and a variety of cash crops. The sector’s contribution to GDP has more than tripled in the last 10 years, supported by rising cash crop production, an emerging agro-processing segment and strong domestic demand for processed food. At the same time, however, farmers and other sector stakeholders face considerable challenges in modernising the industry to increase yields, exports and value-added processing. Nonetheless, the diversity of the sector leaves it well positioned to benefit from substantial investment inflows in the coming years, with budget announcements highlighting its critical importance to employment, exports and industralisation. This chapter contains interviews with Charles John Tizeba, Minister of Agriculture; and Aranyak Sanyal, East Africa Cluster Head, Olam International.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Growth on the ground: Already the largest economic sector, agriculture continues to see positive trends in many areas
OBG
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Agriculture is undoubtedly the largest and most important sector of the Tanzanian economy, with the country benefitting from a diverse production base that includes livestock, staple food crops and a variety of cash crops. The sector’s contribution to GDP has more than tripled in the last 10 years, supported by rising cash crop production, an emerging agro-processing segment and strong domestic demand for processed food. At the same time, farmers and other sector stakeholders face considerable…

Analysis

Removing barriers: Levies are being adjusted to make the industry more competitive
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In a bid to bolster slowing agricultural exports and support industry growth, the government of Tanzania moved to eliminate the majority of levies applied to the agriculture sector in its 2017/18 budget. These levies have led to inflated input costs, and high levels of value-added tax (VAT) and tariffs on inputs have disproportionately affected smallholder farmers. Eliminating levies should help improve both staple and cash crop output, support near- and mid-term growth targets, and boost…

Interview

A clear course: Charles John Tizeba, Minister of Agriculture, on sector trends and smallholder farm initiatives
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Interview:Charles John Tizeba, Minister of Agriculture What impact have global price fluctuations had on Tanzania’s agriculture sector? CHARLES JOHN TIZEBA: The fluctuation in agriculture commodity prices was compounded by large demand from outside the country. Within the EAC, Tanzania was the sole country with a surplus harvest for a number of staples and cereals in 2016. As a result of the free market system, commodity prices could not be controlled internally and thus rose, while external…

Interview

Coming to fruition: Aranyak Sanyal, East Africa Cluster Head, Olam International, on sector opportunities and food security
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Interview:Aranyak Sanyal, East Africa Cluster Head, Olam International What opportunities are there for potential investors in the agriculture sector? ARANYAK SANYAL: We are more than optimistic about agriculture in Tanzania, largely because the economy has strengthened over the last two years, bringing opportunities with it. Crop diversification is also taking place, which will discourage any reliance on specific commodities. We believe there is a market for both domestic and multinational…

Analysis

Rural reach: New initiatives to modernise and expand smallholder farms’ production
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Smallholder farmers account for the large majority of agricultural output in Tanzania, making their integration into larger value chains a vital component of the sector’s growth agenda. At present, smallholder growth remains constrained by severe infrastructure deficits that limit access to domestic and international markets, challenges in obtaining and utilising high-yielding inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, limited irrigation and dependency on rainfall, and poor access to credit. The…