Crops
Tanzania's crops sub-sector alone contributed 16.1% to national GDP in 2024, with food crop production surging from 17,148,290 tonnes in 2021/2022 to 22,803,316 tonnes in 2023/2024 and lifting the Food Self-Sufficiency Ratio to 128%.[1]
Crop production is the dominant activity across Tanzanian agriculture, with 98.3% of the 8,970,096 agricultural households engaged in crop cultivation during the 2022/2023 agricultural year.
The expansion has been propelled by the increasing adoption of modern technologies, improved input supplies, favourable climatic conditions, and targeted agricultural policies, supporting overall sector growth of 4.1% in 2024 and 4.0% in the first nine months of 2025.[1]
Crops Sub-Sector Performance and GDP Contribution
The crops sub-sector contributed 16.1% to national GDP in 2024, making it the single largest agricultural sub-component.[1]
Sectoral growth has been on a positive trajectory, with agriculture expanding 4.1% in 2024 and 4.0% in the first nine months of 2025.
This expansion is attributed to the increasing adoption of modern technologies in crop production, alongside improved input supplies and coordinated stakeholder efforts.
The sub-sector also anchors rural livelihoods: in the 2022/2023 agricultural year, 98.3% of the 8,970,096 agricultural households were engaged in crop production.
Food Crop Production and Self-Sufficiency
Food crop production increased significantly from 17,148,290 tonnes in the 2021/2022 period to 22,803,316 tonnes in 2023/2024.[1]
This surge raised the country's Food Self-Sufficiency Ratio to 128%, an outcome driven by favourable climatic conditions, improved input supplies, targeted agricultural policies, and coordinated stakeholder efforts.
Major food crops driving this production include maize, rice, pulses, bananas, and cassava.
Other commercially and domestically important crops encompass paddy, sorghum, millet, potatoes, sweet potatoes, various roots and tubers, beans, dried oil seeds, vegetables, and fruits.
Cash Crops and Export Markets
Traditional cash crops include cashew nuts, coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco, and avocados, with strong export demand underpinning foreign exchange earnings.
Agriculture accounted for 23.6% of total goods exports in 2025.[1]
Tanzania continues to supply established traditional markets, including the European Union (specifically Belgium, Poland, and Germany), the UAE, and Far East markets including South Korea, Indonesia, and China.
Simultaneously, the sector is expanding into new markets to diversify destinations and reduce concentration risk.
Fertilizer demand and application by Tanzanian farmers has grown to 1,000,000 tonnes per year, with the average application rate improving to 24 kg per hectare, while overall fertilizer availability reached 1,213,729 tonnes in 2024/2025.[5]
Land Resources and Production Structure
Tanzania has a total land area of 94.5 million hectares, of which 44 million are classified as arable.
Currently, only 10.8 million hectares, equivalent to 24%, are under crop production, largely dominated by smallholder farmers cultivating less than five hectares with limited use of inputs and high reliance on rainfed production.
Fewer than 4,000 large-scale commercial farms operate in the country, leaving a substantial gap for commercial-scale entry.
Of the 29.4 million hectares suitable for irrigation, 2.3 million hectares have high development potential and 4.8 million hectares have medium potential.
The country benefits from diverse climatic conditions that support the cultivation of crops suited to both tropical and temperate environments, with bimodal and unimodal rainfall regions making total rainfall failure across all regions very rare.
Tanzania is also endowed with extensive water resources, including rivers, lakes, and underground sources, providing significant irrigation potential.
Policy Framework
Agricultural Master Plan 2050
The Agricultural Master Plan 2050 provides a long-term roadmap for transforming Tanzania into a higher middle-income country by 2050 through the modernization of the crops, livestock, and fisheries sectors.[2]
The plan focuses on expanding irrigated land, increasing the use of improved inputs, promoting mechanization of farm activities, strengthening access to extension services, and reducing post-harvest losses.
It also aims to improve access to local and international markets, enhance research and development, encourage adoption of innovation and technology, and implement policy and regulatory reforms to facilitate trade and value addition.
The plan emphasizes creating employment opportunities for youth and women in agriculture.
2030 Mid-Term Ambition
A mid-term ambition has been set for 2030 to achieve the first stage of agricultural transformation, including attaining 10% annual growth in the agricultural sector and enhancing the productivity of key commodities by more than 50% in a sustainable and resilient way.[3]
Smallholder incomes are targeted to rise by more than 25%, reaching approximately USD 1,500 (TZS 4 million), while agro-processing is to be expanded to USD 3 billion (around TZS 8 trillion).
The plan also targets USD 6 billion (around TZS 16 trillion) in regional and international exports.
Flagship Initiatives and Prioritized Commodities
Flagship initiatives include enhancing food security, sustainably unlocking 1.5 million hectares for commercial agriculture, securing 1.2 million hectares of land ownership, expanding the area under irrigation to 1.2 million hectares, improving soil health, and quintupling seed production.
Other flagship initiatives include developing traditional cash crops and major food crops, digitally registering 9.9 million farmers and stakeholders, roughly doubling extension services coverage, providing financing access to 1.7 million beneficiaries in groups and 30,000 SMEs, and scaling market linkages for more than 2 million smallholders.
Prioritized commodities span fruits (avocado and banana), spices (cloves and potatoes), vegetables (cassava), cotton, cashew, sisal, coffee, maize, paddy, sorghum, wheat, sunflower, sesame, soybeans, kidney beans and other pulses, alongside poultry, red meat, dairy, fodder, and aquaculture.
Agricultural Corridor (AGCOT)
AGCOT covers Tanzania's Central Zone, Southern Zone, Mtwara Zone, and Northern Zone, designed to strengthen agricultural production and productivity, improve access to domestic and international markets, enhance capital access, promote crop value addition, and facilitate the availability of agricultural inputs.
The initiative targets a USD 100 billion agricultural GDP, USD 20 billion in net exports, and 10% annual sector growth by 2050.
Investment Opportunities
The Ministry of Agriculture identifies investment opportunities for edible vegetable oil seeds (sesame, sunflower, palm oil, and soya beans), maize, rice, cassava, legumes (pigeon peas, lentils), horticultural crops (grapes, cloves, cut flowers, avocado), cashew nuts, sisal, cotton, and pyrethrum.[4]
Productive infrastructure opportunities include irrigation systems and water harvesting facilities, with 2.3 million hectares of high-potential and 4.8 million hectares of medium-potential irrigable land available.
Post-harvest infrastructure represents another priority, including pack houses, cold storage, and warehouses to reduce losses and stabilise farm-gate pricing.
Agro-processing for cereals, oilseeds, cashews, sugar, coffee, dairy, and fish constitutes a core processing investment angle, with the Master Plan targeting a tenfold increase in processing for selected commodities through warehouse and market-linkage development.
Export facilitation opportunities span auctions, logistics, and crop hubs, supported by an updated Trade Portal that provides export procedures for specific crops and a Biashara App delivering real-time market price information.
Supply and local manufacturing of inputs and farm machinery is a further opening, with fertilizer demand at 1,000,000 tonnes per year and ongoing capacity additions including the new Itracom plant and Minjingu expansion bringing 36 fertilizer factories into operation.[5]
Priority commercial commodity opportunities include wheat, soybeans, sunflower, sesame, kidney beans and other pulses, alongside accelerated development of avocados, bananas, cloves, potatoes, cassava, cotton, cashew, sisal, coffee, maize, paddy, and sorghum.
Last Update: May 2026
References
- https://www.bot.go.tz/Publications/Regular/Quarterly%20Economic%20Bulletin/en/2026020820330341.pdf (Guide reference #66)
- https://tanzaniaslovakia.sk/ws/media-library/21b3183f837a4485af13f5a885da3938/tanzania-agriculture-master-plan-2050_master-plan_.pdf (Guide reference #70)
- https://www.kilimo.go.tz/uploads/text-editor/files/8.%20AGENDA%2010-30%20DOCUMENT_1757321538.pdf (Guide reference #71)
- https://www.kilimo.go.tz/uploads/documents/sw-1747227277-Agriculture%20Annual%20Report%202023%20-%202024%20compressed.pdf (Guide reference #72)
- https://www.viwanda.go.tz/uploads/documents/en-1747115028-hotuba_online_compressed.pdf (Guide reference #129)
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