According to the latest statistics from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Tanzania has become a hub for food exports, feeding countries in the African region as well as the rest of the world.
According to central bank data, the country sold vegetables worth $1.01 billion between 2018 and 2022.
Tanzania also exported grain crops worth $999 million during the same period (mostly rice and maize).
“These statistics indicate that Tanzania is among the top five rice producers on the entire African continent and the largest rice producer in East Africa,” the BoT said in a statement issued on March 17, 2023.
Tanzania produced 1.85 million tonnes of rice in the 2020/21 season, while the country's annual demand is around 1 million tonnes. This equates to an excess of 850,000 tonnes of rice.
It also produced 6.5 million tonnes of maize during the same season, compared to the country's annual demand of 6 million tonnes.
Between 2018 and 2022, fish and fish product exports totalled S$800 million, while fruit exports totalled $71.4 million.
These figures come as President Samia Suluhu Hassan raises the curtain on the Africa Food Systems Forum, a major agricultural conference set to take place in Tanzania from September 5-8 this year.
The event took place at Dar es Salaam's State House.
Since taking office in March 2021, President Samia has more than doubled the government's agricultural budget to levels not seen since the country's independence in 1961.
Over the last five years, the Samia administration has also invested in seed subsidies, fertilizer subsidies, seed production, and irrigation farming, all of which have contributed to impressive productivity.
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