Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania: Overview of the Agricultural Industry

Geoffrey Kirenga, CEO of SAGCOT (Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania), shares his assessment of the agricultural industry in Tanzania and talks about investment opportunities in the sector.

“Agriculture is the most important economic sector in Tanzania. It is also one of the main employers employing about 70% to 75% of the people in Tanzania. Tanzania now is over 100% self-sufficient as far as food is concerned for the past one or two decades and the sector is growing. Our aim is to reach 10%. Right now, it is around 5% growth per year. It is one of the areas in one of the few places in the world where there are still a lot of opportunities for investment and investment is happening. A transformation is also taking place. In the 80s and 90s, most of the production was from small scale farmers. We used to have a lot of smallholder producers and few light scale producers and in between there was nothing. But now with the investments happening in the agriculture sector, we are seeing the emergence of medium scale farmers. The missing middle now is actually retaining the neglected middle and that is where most of the changes and interesting things are happening”, says Geoffrey Kirenga.

“We produce enough maize for our local consumption and we have surplus to sell. We produce about 5 to 7 million tons annually. We have 1 to 2 million tons which we sell in the neighboring markets. We are also producing around 3 million tons of rice and we consume around 1 million, so we have surplus for rice as well. We supply rice in the regional markets and we are also looking for markets beyond Eastern Africa. We have sufficient production on fruits and vegetables. We are also selling onions, tomatoes, and oranges in the neighboring countries. There are some food items that we import and actually we do import in large quantities. Wheat, for example, we mill locally. We import around 1 million tons a year. We also import sugar and edible oils. Almost 80% of the edible oils that we consume in Tanzania is imported. We have identified those as investment opportunities. There are specific drives by the government and also the private sector to attract investment in wheat, edible oils, and sugar so that we can meet our own local demand and that of the East African market. Tanzania is a member of both the East African bloc and SADC (Southern African Development Community). Therefore, there are a lot of opportunities for markets to expand beyond Tanzania”, he adds.

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