The government of Tanzania has unveiled its budget for the 2022/2023 financial year, saying it aimed at transforming agriculture sector.
Minister for Finance and Planning, Mwigulu Nchemba who unveiled the new budget in parliament in the capital Dodoma said the government has increased the agricultural budget from 294 billion Tanzanian shillings (about US $126 million) to 954 billion Tanzanian shillings and will continue to increase the budget each year.
Agriculture remains a cornerstone of the economy, providing 31% to GDP and contributing 24.9 percent of annual export earnings, in particular through the main export crops cashew,tobacco, sugar, coffee and cotton.
Government’s aim
The government’s aim is to achieve more than 10% growth for the agriculture sector by 2030, said Nchemba, adding that other goals are ensuring food security and supply to cater for domestic demand and export, increasing the value of export of agricultural produce from US $1.2 billion to more than US $5 billion by 2030.
“The government intends to increase sales of horticulture produce from 750 million U.S. dollars per annum to 2 billion U.S. dollars per annum by 2030,” he told the House.
He added that plans also involved expanding the irrigation area to 8.5 million hectares equivalent to 50% of the total area cultivated in the country by 2030. As the government’s determination to transform the agriculture sector its support is crucial to coordinate the integration of smallholder farmers into larger cooperatives and groups needed in other areas that aid integration with wider markets. This will not only increase income for farmers but set the ground for a sound transformation of the sector in the country.
