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UNESCO NATIONAL COMMISSION OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

OverviewTanzania is endowed with

enough fertile arable land,diverse climatic zones andplenty of water sources allacross the country. However,only 24% out of about 44million hectares of the totalland area suitable for Agri-culture is utilized, mainly bysmallholder farmers culti-vating average farm sizes ofbetween 0.9 hectares and 3.0hectares using traditionalcultivation methods.

Only 10 % of the arableland is ploughed by tractorand production is determinedby rainfall. Both crops andlivestock are adversely affectedby periodical droughts.

Small-scale farmers lackcapital, skills and can onlymanage to cultivate forsubsistence.

Though irrigation holdsthe key to stabilizing agricul-tural production to improvefood security, increase farmers’productivity and incomes,and also to produce highervalued crops only 326,492hectares out the 2.3 millionhectares of high-potential landfor irrigation are developed.

Usage of agriculturalinputs is quite low. Tanzaniauses only 9kg per hectare offertilizer and only 10% offarmers use improved seed.

Low levels of technology,excessive reliance on rain-fed agriculture, insufficientagricultural extension serv-ices, low labour productivity,deficient transportation andmarketing infrastructure andfacilities are the major con-straints impeding a rapidgrowth of the sector.

Contribution to theeconomy & performance

Agriculture is one of theleading sectors in Tanzania’seconomy. It contributes sub-stantially to the GDP, accountsfor about one fifth of the for-eign earnings and supportsthe livelihoods of more thantwo thirds of the population.

It has forward linkageswith the non-farm sectorthrough agro-processing,consumption and export;provides raw materials toindustries and a market formanufactured goods.

Since 1985, the country’soverall agricultural GDP hasgrown at an average annualrate of 3.3% while the country’smain food crops have beengrowing at 3.5% annuallyand its export crops at 5.4%annually. Unfortunately, this

Agriculture:Green Revolution to improve productivity

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performance falls short ofthe needed growth consid-ering that the overall GDPgrowth target for halvingabject poverty by 2011 is inthe range of 6-7 %.

The Agricultural sectorgrew by 3.2% in 2009 com-pared to 4.6% in the previousyear, further shrinking thesector’s contribution to GDPfrom 25.7% to 24.6%. Thecrops sub-sector grew by2.86% compared to 5.1%in 2008.

The decline in growthwas due to the lack of amplerainfall and droughts in theNorthern part of the country.This led to poor harvests andlack of feed and water forlivestock.

ProductionFood Crops

The aggregate nationalfood availability in Tanzaniais not of plenty, but rather ofa critical balance betweenproduction and needs.

The major staples includemaize, sorghum, millet, rice,wheat, pulses (mainly beans),cassava, potatoes, bananasand plantains.

Among food crops, cerealsare the major crops grown inTanzania. The area plantedwith cereals 4,798,071 hectaresrepresents 61% of total plantedarea followed by roots andtubers 14%, pulses 12% andoil seeds 7%. Among cereals,maize production is higherthan any other cereal inTanzania with a total pro-duction of over 75% of totalcereal produced.

Production patterns oscil-late dramatically, accordingto the shifting weather con-ditions in a given harvest

year. In the past 10 years, forinstance, maize productionhas varied considerably,ranging from a high of 2,638million tonnes in 2006/7, toa low of 2,107 million tonnesin 2009/2010.

Annual staples demandin Tanzania is about 11 mil-lion tons with maize and riceaccounting for half of the total.

Tanzania’s average yieldsfor maize and rice are farbelow the African average.Low productivity of cerealsin Tanzania is attributedto dependency on rain-fedagriculture and low usageof fertilizer, improved seedsand pesticides.

Cash CropsPrincipal export crops

include coffee, tea, cotton,cashews, sisal, oil seeds, hor-ticultural crops, pyrethrum,fresh cut flowers, cloves andspices.

In terms of agriculturalexports, coffee constitutes themost important cash crop.Recent reports have indicatedthat coffee accounted for17.7% of Tanzania’s totalagricultural exports in 2009/2010. Cotton was the secondmost important cash crop,followed by cashew nuts,tobacco, tea and sisal. InZanzibar, the major cashcrop is cloves, 90 % of whichare produced on the islandof Pemba. The major importersof Tanzania’s agriculturalexports consist of the EUcountries, especially theUnited Kingdom, Germany,and the Netherlands.

Impressive progress hasbeen registered in recentyears in farming of exportcrops following the influx ofinvestors interested in com-mercial scale farming.

In 2009/2010, productionof some of the cash cropsincluding cotton, pyrethrumand tobacco on average wentup. Cotton production wentup from 267,004 tonnes in2008/2009 to 365,731 tonnesin 2009/2010 while pyre-thrum and tobacco produc-tion increased from 1,500and 55,356 tonnes in 2008/2009 to 3,320 tonnes and60,900 tonnes in 2009/2010respectively.

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The surplus was causedby better use of farm inputsespecially fertilizer and insec-ticides that was used througha special loan scheme knownin kiswahili as ‘ruzuku yambolea’. Other reasons werestiff competition amongfarmers, enough rains, useof good pyrethrum seeds andthe expansion of tobaccoand cotton farms.

However, production ofcoffee, cashew nuts, sisal, andtea went down in 2009/2010compared to 2008/2009.

In the current financialyear 2010/11, production ofsugar is expected to increasefrom 279,850 tonnes to317,000 tonnes while that oftobacco is expected to goup from 60,900 tonnes to78,000 tonnes. This will bepossible due to the intensionto build capacity of farmersin utilising modern farmingtechniques as well as usingimproved seed varieties. Teaproduction will go up from33,160 tonnes to 35,000 tonneswhile that of sisal will increasefrom 26,363 tonnes 35,000tonnes, thanks to the increasein the number of sisal farms,

fuelled by the improving sisalprices at the world market.Coffee production is set toincrease from 40,000 tonnesto 60,575 tonnes while cashewnut production will see anincrease from 74,169 tonnesto 121,070 tonnes.

LivestockLivestock production is

one of the major agriculturalactivities in Tanzania.

The sub sector contributesto national food supply, con-verts rangelands resourcesinto products suitable for

human consumption andis a source of cash incomesand an inflation–free storeof value. It provides about30 % of the Agricultural GDPand livehood to an estimated1,745,776 households.

Out of the sub sector’scontribution to GDP, about40 % originates from beefproduction, 30 % from Milkproduction and another 30 %from poultry and small stockproduction. Livestock pro-duction originates from alarge resource base composedof the different livestock species,breeds and types whose own-ership and distribution differfrom region to region.

The total Livestock popu-lation reared by smallholdersin Tanzania is 37.06 millionof which 18.8 million arecattle, 13.1 million goats,3.56 million sheep and 1.6million pigs. The poultrypopulation is estimated at33.3 million.

Smallholder ruminantproduction in Tanzania ischaracterized by most live-stock keeping householdshaving less than 10 head.However a relatively high %of the livestock populationare reared by a small numberof farmers. Ruminant live-

stock production is concen-trated in the northern regionsof the country and declinessteadily towards the Southof the country.

Three livestock produc-tion systems are commonlydistinguished in the range-land areas; commercial ranch-ing, pastoralism and agro-pastoralism. Commercialranching accounts for about2 % of the total cattle herd.It is practised mainly byNational Ranching Company(NARCO), now in the processof being privatised.

The livestock industryhas maintained a steadyannual growth rate of over2.7 % during the last decade.However, human populationgrowth is increasing at ahigher rate than the growthin the livestock sub-sectorwhich indicates that Tanzaniais increasingly unable tomeet the internal demandfor livestock. This is further


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compounded by the cultureof the retention of large cattleherds as status symbols insome parts of the country.

The current challengesfacing the sector includeanimal diseases, poor infra-structure and lack of reliablemarkets, investments andprocessing industries.

Government policyA strong and supportive

policy environment is key tofurther growth in the agricul-tural sector. The Agricultureand Livestock Policy (1997) iscurrently under review, whilethe Agricultural Sector Devel-opment Strategy (2001) and

the seven-year AgriculturalSector Development Program-me (ASDP) aim to revampagriculture for increasedproductivity, profitability andfarm income. These piecesof legislation emphasiseenabling farmers’ access toand use of agricultural knowl-edge, technologies, marketingsystems and infrastructure,and the promotion of privatesector investment.

The overall objective is toachieve a sustainable agri-cultural sector growth rateof 6% per annum throughtransformation from subsis-tence to commercial agri-culture. Besides stimulating

agricultural growth, ASDPand ASP target also to achievefood security and reducerural poverty.

The Government recog-nizes the importance andpotential of agriculture as acontributor to wealth crea-tion. In the 2009/2010 fiscalyear agriculture received 7%of the national budget allo-cation – some TZS 666.9billion, which is an increaseof 30% over the TZS 513.0billion allocated in 2008/2009. In the 2010/2011 fiscalyear agriculture will receive9% of the national budgetallocation – some TZS 903.8billion.

Agriculture FirstKilimo Kwanza – Agri-

culture first is a new strategythat was launched by Presi-dent Kikwete in August 2009in Dodoma. It is aimed atspearheading governmentefforts to bringing aboutAgriculture revolution inthe country.

Productivity and growthin agriculture is to be boostedby:• Improvements to the ruralroad network and irrigationinfrastructure, including rainwater harvesting;• Improvements to storagefacilities for agricultural cropsand livestock products and

assistance to farmers in iden-tifying reliable markets;• Strenghening the capacityof the Strategic Grain Reserveto buy and store sufficientgrains consistent with nationalfood requirements;• Ensuring the timely avail-ability of inputs for arableagriculture and livestock farm-ing, including improved seeds,fertilizers, agro-chemicalsand veterinary medecines,and that the AgriculturalInput Fund is sufficientlyfunded;

• Giving priority in the allo-cation of farm implementsand other inputs to the majorfood crop production regionsof Mbeya, Ruvuma, Rukwa,Iringa, Morogoro and Kigoma;• Identifying and surveyingland for large-scale food cropfarming to take advantageof the existing opportunityin terms of local and worldmarket demand;• Supporting research insti-tutions to develop improvedseeds and encouraging otherinstitutions to scale-up seedproduction;• Reduction of unsustainableforest harvesting;• Establishing and reviv-ing agro-processing indus-tries, with private sectorparticipation;• Improving access to creditand fast-tracking the settingup of a special window forlending to agricultural ven-


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tures at the Tanzania Invest-ment Bank (TIB);• Establishment of an Agri-cultural Development Bank;• VAT and customs duty chan-ges to promote the sector.

Tanzania’s newly intro-duced agriculture policy isbeginning to bear fruit withthe introduction of the Na-tional Cereals and OtherProduce Bill, 2009. The legis-lation provides for a newboard of Cereals and OtherProduce to supervise produc-tion and subsequent market-ing of traditional food crops.The board has filled thevacuum left by the formerGeneral Agricultural Prod-ucts Export (Gapex) and theNational Milling Corporation.The Bill has started benefit-ing all sectors of agriculture,including fresh support forfruit and vegetable producers.

Eight multinational firmsand institutions, including,Unilever, YARA, DUPONT,SABMiller, General Mills,Syngenta, Monsanto andAlliance for a Green Revo-lution in Africa (Agra) havealready showed their intereststo aid Tanzania’s green revo-lution endeavours.

CAADPTanzania in July 2010

signed the ComprehensiveAfrica Agriculture Develop-ment Programme (CAADP)that will make agriculturea true accelerator of the eco-nomic development in thecountry. The country had inthe past failed to improve the

sector due to many factorsincluding application of poortechnology, budget allocationand equipment but the currentstep will enable the countryaccelerate further.

Following the adoptionof CAADP, Tanzania will nowqualify for many advantagesincluding the 50,000 millionUS Dollars (about 73bn) grantfrom the special fund con-tributed by G 20 countries forCAADP signatories.

Although the AfricanUnion through New Partner-ship for Africa’s Development(NEPAD) has recommendedfor the allocation of at least10 % of the national budgetfor the sector, still the alloca-tion won’t be adequate con-sidering many challengesfacing the sector.

Through CAADP agree-ment, Tanzania will be moreserious in making sure enoughbudgetary allocations aremade complimenting othercontributions from stake-holders and developmentpartners.

Since budget allocationshave significantly increasedfrom 3 % in 2005/2006 tonearly 9 % in 2010-2011, thecountry will soon manage tosurpass the 10 % target setby NEPAD. The signing ofCAADP compact will soonboost the country’s agricul-tural programmes underimplementation and thatalready it has applied for theG 20 basket fund.

Investment plans in irri-gation, merchandise, researchdevelopment, and use ofimproved agricultural inputswill be improved under thenew plan. Others are improve-ment of rural infrastructure,

agro-processing and valueaddition, renewable naturalresources, environment andclimate change.

Challenges in theAgriculture Sector• Low productivity of land,labour and other inputs.• Underdeveloped irrigationschemes.• Limited capital and accessto financial services.• Inadequate agriculturaltechnical support services.• Poor rural infrastructurehindering effective rural-urban linkages.• Infections and outbreaksof crop, animal pests anddiseases.• Erosion of national resourcebase and environmentaldegradation.• Lack of entrepreneurial skillsto turn non-farm activitiesinto viable sources of liveli-hoods and foreign exchange.

ConclusionAt a time when the gov-

ernment is embarking onKilimo Kwanza as Tanzania’sgreen revolution to transformits agriculture into a modernand commercial sector, it isinteresting to see if Tanzaniacould emulate success storiesfrom Asia. By raising agricul-tural productivity throughenhanced investments, bothpublic and private, in ruralinfrastructure such as roads,irrigation, inputs such ashigh yielding seed varietiesand fertilizer and technologyit could be possible to enjoythe fruits of prosperity. ■


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