Government has come together with the private sector and donor community to develop sustainable, profitable agribusinesses across the high-potential Southern region of Tanzania. This region is a key focus for efforts to improve the operating environment for investments in agriculture. Through the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), US$3.5b will be mobilized in investment into this region over the next 20 years. 

The founding document of SAGCOT, the Investment Blueprint, was developed by the founding partners encompassing government, donor partners, farmers, and the private sector. The SAGCOT Investment Blueprint details the objectives of SAGCOT and how these will be achieved. This is a long-term initiative, which will take 20 years to fully implement. However, the positive impact of bringing the public and private sector together to develop agriculture is already yielding results. Since its inception, SAGCOT has achieved the following main milestones:

The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (“SAGCOT”) has been established as a public private partnership with the objective to enhance Tanzania’s food security and accelerate agricultural transformation. The mandate of the partnership is to achieve these objectives by catalyzing responsible private sector led agricultural development. Partners commit to ensure that investments improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers and their communities, are sustainable in terms of natural resource use.

Tanzania has a long history of sugar cane production and it has now a prioritized national policy to attract foreign investments into modern and industrial scale sugar cane production. Between 2001 and 2010, the production of sugar in Tanzania increased from 130,000 Mt pa to 280,000 Mt pa. This has been principally due to the refurbishment of four old sugar cane estates and rejuvenation of sugar cane farms. However, production capacities in existing mills are now approaching their limit and annual consumption is at 500,000 MT pa and growing rapidly.

Three years after the G8 Summit at L’Aquila, Italy, the international community recognizes the importance of food security to development, inclusive economic growth and the dignity of all women and men. In that spirit, we welcome the success of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) in demonstrating African ownership and leadership, its call for expanded public and private investment in agriculture and desire to build on the progress that African governments have made in advancing a vision for agricultural development in Africa. 

This case study is part of a Harvard Kennedy School CSR Initiative workstream on systemic approaches to creating business opportunity and development impact at scale. An initial framing paper, “Tackling Barriersto Scale: From Inclusive Business Modelsto Inclusive Business Ecosystems,” was published in September 2011. This document is one of several in-depth case studies subsequently conducted to generate knowledge and provide practical guidance on what such systemic approaches look like and how to structure and implement them.

The NAP 2013 aims at addressing challenges that continue to hinder the development of the agricultural sector; these include low productivity; over dependence on rain-fed agriculture; inadequate agriculture support services; poor infrastructure; weak agro-industries; low quality of agricultural produce; inadequate participation of the country’s private sector in agriculture; environmental degradation and crop pests and diseases.

An Act to provide the establishment of the National Irrigation Commission; to provide for the development,operation and maintenance of irrigation and drainage systems; to provide for effective implementation of the National Irrigation Policy, the National Irrigation Development Strategy and to provide for related matters.

A policy to guide resettlement in agricultural projects under ASDP

In August 2001, The Government of Tanzania (GoT) approved the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) which envisages an agricultural sector that, by 2025, is modernized, commercial, highly productive and profitable, and utilizes natural resources in a sustainable manner. The ASDS has identified five strategic issues:

• Strengthening the institutional framework.

• Creating a favorable environment for commercial activities.

• Clarifying public and private sector roles in improving support services.

FAO is working with national partners to set up a sustainable system for monitoring the impact of food and agricultural policies for the first time in Africa. Through MAFAP, FAO has developed common indicators for monitoring key commodities and public expenditure in agriculture. This helps policy makers and donors understand if policies are having a positive impact and compare results across countries and over time.

In this communiqué, the undersigned Non-State Actors (civil society, pastoralist, research, private, farmers’ unions and other stakeholders) champion a call to action and outline recommendations on livestock policy advocacy strategies that take into consideration the unique conditions and opportunities of the livestock sector development in Tanzania