Tanzania
Tanzania: Agriculture
Key facts
Tanzania is an East African country on the western edges of the Indian Ocean and the southern shores of Lake Victoria. The largest country in East Africa – in both population and land area – Tanzania shares borders with Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. Peace, stability, and multi-party parliamentary-style democracy are well established.
Owing to its size, geographic position, and tectonic activity Tanzania incorporates highly diverse ecological zones. The climate is tropical with bimodal rainfall in parts of the country and unimodal in others. Bimodal patterns – characterised by short and long rains – can be found around the regions of the Lake Victoria Basin, the North-Eastern Highlands, and the North-Eastern Coastal areas. Unimodal areas – receive rains between 500 and 1000m from November to April – and cover the remainder of the country.
Agriculture is the leading economic sector in Tanzania; it provides a livelihood to approximately 80% of the population. In the main, agriculture is practised on smallholder, family-operated farms using rudimentary technology and ineffective tillage, storage, and processing systems. Smallholder farms, typically less than two hectares, however, are responsible for 90% of Tanzanian agricultural produce.
Major cash crops: Coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco, and cashew nuts.
Major food crops: Maize, rice, pulses, and wheat.
The country is bountifully endowed with potentially productive land. Approximately 94.5 million ha of land is suitable for cultivation and livestock production. Only 10.2 million ha, however, is under cultivation; and 26 million ha is under livestock keeping. Currently, 58.3 million ha is available for development. In addition to land Tanzania is blessed with enormous water potential. In view of existing water, land, and socio-economic considerations Tanzania’s irrigation potential is estimated to be 29.4 million hectares, with various degrees of irrigability. Tanzania also benefits from favourable sea and air links, which help with the export of goods.
Land Use (in million hectares)
Total Usable land: 94.5
Arable land: 44.0
Under cultivation: 10.2
Land suitable for irrigation: 29.4
High development potential: 02.3
Medium development potential: 04.8
Low development potential: 22.3
Government Initiatives
Land laws have been revised to all for long-leases of up to 99 years.
Agricultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP).
Integrated Road Projects (IRP).
About 3.1 million hectares in 21 regions have been surveyed in readiness for producers.
Opportunities
The national capacity for agricultural input production is very low. Consequently, almost all agricultural inputs are imported from regional or international markets. Investment opportunities are available, therefore, in the production, processing, marketing and service provision of all agricultural crops.
Coffee: Acquisition of existing coffee farms. Opening up new large-scale coffee estates in Ruvuma, Mbeya, Iringa, Kigoma, Mara, Ukerewe, and Manyarea: emphasis on organic coffee. Establishment of pulperies and final product processing plants.
Cotton: Potential for establishing large-scale cotton production farms.
Spices: Spice production, processing and marketing infrastructure.
Tea: New plantations and tea processing facilities.
Sisal: Expansion and establishing new large-scale sisal plantations. Joint-venture participation in the privatised sisal estates. Various processing requirements.
Tobacco: Establishment of tobacco nuclear farms. Opportunities for new large-scale farming.
Pyrethrum: New large-scale farms in high altitude areas. Crude extracts refineries.
Maize, Rice, and Sugarcane: Large scale production of maize in high potential areas. Opportunities to invest in rice production following privatisation of NAFCO rice plantations in Ruvu and Dakawa. Tanzania is approximately 75% self-sufficient in sugar – opportunities to establish new estates and/or produce industrial alcohol and molasses.