Agriculture

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.