Diplomatist Special Report - Tanzania Tanzania 2018 | Page 39

The manufacturing sector has
seen rapid growth over the past
decade. It is growing at a pace
of 8.6 percent per annum in real
terms. Manufacturing exports have
grown strongly at about 31 percent
per annum over the period 2000 to
2010. In Tanzania, the private sector
dominates (91%) manufacturing as
the 56 State-Owned Enterprises
(SOEs) constitute 8 percent of the
total manufacturing enterprises. 97
percent of manufacturing entities
are micro-enterprises with less
than 10 employees; most of these
operate in the informal sector.
Tanzania has recorded an
overall agricultural sector
growth in the recent past
and is considered self-
suffi cient in staple foods
at the national level,
producing 111 percent of
its staple food needs.
Agriculture: From the fi elds
Agriculture is the main part
of Tanzania's economy. Almost
70 percent of the poor population
live in rural areas. Agriculture
provides 30 percent of GDP,
80 percent of employment and
contributes 85 percent of export
earnings annually. Crop production
in Tanzania is mainly rain-fed
and dominated by smallholder
farmers, cultivating food crops
for domestic consumption with
surpluses feeding the towns. The
most common food and cash crops
in Tanzania are maize, cassava,
sweet potatoes, bananas, sorghum, and sugar cane.
Tanzania has recorded an overall agricultural sector
growth in the recent past and is considered self-suffi cient
in staple foods at the national level, producing 111 percent
of its staple food needs. According to Tanzania’s Ministry
of Agriculture, traditional export crops in Tanzania include
cotton, coffee, tobacco, cashews,
tea, pyrethrum, and sisal. Raw
tobacco represents Tanzania’s
most important exported cash
crop growing from $ 169m worth
of exports in 2010 to $ 318m in
2015, followed by cashews which
grew from $ 50m to $ 201m, and
coffee from $109m to $ 162m in
the same period.
The Tanzanian government
instituted a series of agricultural
reforms in the 1980s-1990s that
included market liberalisation,
removal of state monopolies
and increased reliance on the
private sector. In 2004, Tanzania
adopted the Agricultural Sector
Development Programme
(ASDP) as part of its agricultural
reform policy which was aimed
to transform the agriculture
sector from subsistence to export
agriculture through the private
sector, and achieve a sustained 5
percent growth rate in agriculture.
Tanzania Agriculture Development
Bank (TADB) which is 100 percent
government-owned provides
loans at low-interest rates ranging
between 8 to12 percent. The overall
goal is to improve farmers’access
to fi nance so as to guarantee food
security and contribute to the transformation from subsistence
farming to commercial farming.The government is supporting
agribusiness by putting in place strategies and policies.
The Government of Tanzania intends to use agricultural
development as the main engine towards reaching middle-
level income status for the country by 2025.
TANZANIA• 39