Regional Markets

3 Cases
Photo: ©FAO/Daniel Hayduk / FAO
3.2 Developing cereal value chains in Tanzania
Abel Paul Lyimo
Introduction
Tanzania has a total land area covering 94.5 million hectares of land out of which 44
million hectares are suitable for agriculture. However, it is estimated that only 10.1
million ha or 23% of this arable land is under cultivation. The population consists of
approximately 45 million people, with 45% of the population under 15 years of age. The
annual population growth rate is 2.8%.
The agricultural sector is the driving engine of the Tanzanian economy; the need to
develop it can never be overemphasized. In 2008, the sector accounted for about 25.7% of
the GDP and 22% of foreign exchange earnings. The sector provides 95% of the national
food requirements and livelihood to more than 70% of the population. Tanzania’s
medium-term development strategy as outlined in the National Strategy for Growth
and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP, commonly known by its Kiswahili acronym –
MKUKUTA) is to increase growth of the agricultural sector from 5% to 10 % per annum
by 2010 and the number of food insecurity households considerably reduced by 2015.
Since 1985 the six main food crops (maize, rice, sorghum, millets, wheat and legumes) have
grown at 3.5% per year, while export crops have grown with 5.4%. In Tanzania rice is one
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