Posted on September, 3, 2021 at 10:15 am
Dar es Salaam. The government and members of the business community were working as a unified group in an effort to up Tanzania’s share of global trade in agriculture produce and products.
The decision to work together seeks to benefit smallholder farmers who comprise the majority population of the country’s population.
“Everything we produce in this sector is needed somewhere in the world,” said the deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of Agriculture, Prof Siza Tumbo.
He was speaking recently during an event to open the 2021 Agribusiness Deal Room in-country launch for Tanzania.
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra) organised the event.
In addition to ensuring Tanzania remains food secure, Prof Tumbo was adamant that more exports of agricultural goods would lead to significant productivity, leading to the creation of agriculture-driven wealth among smallholder farmers.
It was paramount for Tanzania to gain more access to the global market for agricultural produce so as to propel smallholder farmers to increase production significantly and be able to compete by lowering prices while still earning comfortable profit margins, he noted.
To catalyse the growth of agribusiness, the government and private sector must work together to open up market opportunities for smallholder farmers in a way that ensures the youth and women are not left behind, he noted.
According to him, it was due to concerted efforts between members of the public and private sectors that soybeans exports rose from 3,500 tonnes in 2019/2020 to 60,000 tonnes in 2020/21.
Such a milestone, he said, indicates other crops can find markets worldwide, and join the traditional agricultural exports like tea, coffee, tobacco, cotton and cashew nuts.
He called for a strong public-private partnership (PPP) at home and, on the other hand, with investors from around the world to make sure Tanzania’s agricultural yields get reliable markets from around the globe.
He said the world market was huge for maize compared to the about 1 million tonnes Tanzania had to offer, thus the need for market linkages. “Our strategy is to become more competitive by increasing productivity,” he noted.
The Agribusiness Deal Room is a matchmaking platform at the annual African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), which will take place in Nairobi from September 6. The deputy minister for Agriculture, Mr Hussein Bashe, has previously indicated that Tanzania will bid to host the forum in 2023.
Agra Country manager for Tanzania Vianey Rweyendela said the deal room enables public and private sector as well as investors to link up to transform small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in agribusiness into bigger enterprises that can support big numbers of smallholder farmers. It makes the whole value chain more profitable.
‘We aim to reach more smallholder farmers. Partnerships that promote inclusive agribusiness growth are essential,” Mr Vianey said.
He urged Tanzanians in agribusiness to participate in big numbers in the 2021 Deal Room and pitch to access finance and partnership opportunities.
Thanks to last year’s Deal Room, two Tanzania SMEs and a cooperative society - G2L Co, Wakulima Agri-Food Company and Sokoine University Graduate Entrepreneurs Cooperative (Sugeco), were at advanced stages in negotiations with financiers.
“The entities are likely to clinch deals which will potentially open up room for them to grow exponentially,” noted Mr Rweyendela.
He noted that Tanzania’s participation in AGRF, including Deal Room and thereafter UN Food Systems Summit (FSS), was vital in the battle to achieve a sustainable food system.
Private sector representative Geoffrey Kirenga, who is also Southern Agricultural Corridor of Tanzania (Sagcot) chief executive officer, noted that the private sector in Tanzania works closely with smallholder farmers, and public and private sector partnerships are vital for growth.
He warned that food imports were like importing jobs whereas in Tanzania, the country is more than capable of producing enough for food security and sell to the global market.
He called for concerted efforts to grow agribusiness into a formidable export business and help create over eight million jobs in the coming five years.
He expressed his gratitude to Agra for facilitating increased participation of private sectors in Tanzania, including crafting the Tanzania Agro-industries Development Flagship (TAIDF).
A representative from Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Ms Diana Ladislaus, said there were a myriad investment opportunities in the agriculture sector, ranging from manufacturing agricultural implements and machinery, processing, sugar, cotton, edible oils, livestock, and fisheries.
The in-country deal room was attended by agriculture line ministries officials, private sector members, Agra Vice president Ms. Vanessa Adam, IFAD Country officer Jacquiline Machangu, among others. It was moderated by Mr Peniel Lyimo, retired Permanent Secretary, who has served different dockets involved in agriculture development.
Source: The Citizen