Tanzania Agricultural Investment

Agriculture is extremely important for Tanzania’s economic growth prospects. The sector directly supports the livelihood of about 55 percent of Tanzanians and 15 percent indirectly.

With a population increase of about 3% annually, demand in Tanzania is expected to continue to shift dramatically from rural diets of barely transformed staples to urban diets of highly processed and pricier horticultural and animal-sourced food products.

Rising income levels both in rural and urban areas are providing a broad-based consumer market for US companies. Urban Tanzanians with lower incomes consistently spend about one-third of their disposable incomes on food staples and minimally processed goods made from staples, such as cereals.

Adding value in natural resource–based industries by enhanced processing, especially mass production of processed food products for consumers, is recommended as a starting point for Tanzania to stimulate growth in food manufacturing.

In recent years, the agriculture sector has underperformed overall and little private investment has been directed toward agribusiness.

In 2018 the government launched the Agriculture Sector Development Program (ASDP II), which maps the path for agriculture through 2028. It plans to transform the sector by promoting commercialization, prioritizing high-potential commodity value chains, and mobilizing capital by expanding the role of the formal private sector in agriculture. Thus, through ASDP II the government seeks to more easily meet Tanzania’s increasing food requirements, accelerate agribusiness investment, and reduce poverty and inequality.

The agribusiness value chain in Tanzania provides many opportunities for U.S companies. These areas include but are not limited to cold chain storage facilities for horticulture products, processing of crops such as cashew and oil seeds, transport, packaging, wholesaling, and retailing of the various crops.

The U.S. Commercial Sub-Saharan countries will be hosting a webinar on cold chain storage opportunities in the region. The event will include companies from the U.S. offering cold chain storage technologies. For more information on this contact Ken.Walsh@trade.gov or Victoria.agbai@trade.gov.

For additional business insights and to analyze your company’s prospects in this growing region, contact Commercial Specialist Athanasius Lupatu at the U.S Commercial Service, U.S Embassy, Dar es Salaam, Athanasius.Lupatu@trade.gov.