Agriculture in Tanzania
Agriculture is the main part of Tanzania's economy.
The 6 main
The agriculture sector faces various challenges and had been the governments top priority to develop to reduce poverty and increase productivity.[7] Farming efficiently has been a challenge for many farmers, and lack of finances and farming education has caused many to remain subsistence farmers. Farm sizes remain very small with an average plot size being around 2.5 ha.[8]
Challenges on the agriculture industry of Tanzania include climate change and the resulting droughts, floods, and agriculture temperature shocks and a lack of agricultural technology.[9] These pose severe challenges to the living standards of most of people involved in the agriculture industry in Tanzania and create huge increases in unemployment, hunger, malnutrition and starvation, and diseases rates.[10][11]
Large declines in commodity prices, decreased export revenues, increased trade and budget deficits all amount to hindering the growth of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The Agriculture Industry in Tanzania represents 32.4 percent of GDP of Tanzania.[12]
Soil and topography
Tanzania has an area of 945,000 square kilometres (365,000 sq mi) with inland lakes covering 6 percent of that (59,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi)). The Great Rift Valley runs north to south and contains most of the country's lakes. The country is home to the highest point in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the lowest point in the continent, Lake Tanganyika.[13]
Soil types vary drastically throughout the country. There are six main types of soil types in the country as follows;[14]
- Volcanic soils: predominantly in the northern highland regions.
- Sandy soils: predominantly in the coastal regions and used mainly for grazing.
- Granite/Gneiss soil: predominantly in the northern regions of Mwanza and Tabora.
- Red soils: predominantly in the central plateau, including the Dodoma Region.
- Ironstone soils: predominantly in the western regions like Kagera and Kigoma.
- Vertisol: called mbuga black soil, spread across most of the country.
In summary for the variety of soil types studies still do not indicate which type of soil suits best for farming of a cash crop or a food crop.[citation needed]
Production
Tanzania produced in 2018:
- 5.9 million tons of maize;
- 5 million tons of cassava (12th largest producer in the world);
- 3.8 million tons of sweet potato (4th largest producer in the world, second only to China, Malawi and Nigeria);
- 3.4 million tons of banana (10th largest producer in the world, 13th adding plantain production);
- 3 million tons of rice;
- 3 million tons of sugarcane;
- 1.7 million tons of potato;
- 1.2 million tons of beans(6th largest producer in the world);
- 940 thousand tons of peanut (7th largest producer in the world);
- 930 thousand tons of sunflower seed (12th largest producer in the world);
- 808 thousand tons of sorghum;
- 561 thousand tons of );
- 546 thousand tons of coconut (11th largest producer in the world);
- 454 thousand tons of mango (including mangosteen and guava);
- 389 thousand tons of pineapple;
- 373 thousand tons of orange;
- 356 thousand tons of tomato;
- 238 thousand tons of cotton;
- 171 thousand tons of cashew nuts(6th largest producer in the world);
In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, like tobacco (107 thousand tons, 8th largest producer in the world), coffee (55 thousand tons), tea (36 thousand tons) and sisal (33 thousand tons). [15]
Cash crops
Coffee production
Coffee is grown on a large scale on both estates and by smallholders that form co-operatives and involves over 400,000 farmers. Coffee has been grown in the country since the colonial times and is a major export crop, earning over 17 percent of the country's foreign exchange.[
Sisal production
Sisal was brought to Tanzania from Mexico by the German East Africa Company in the late 19th century. Sisal is grown in the northern regions of the country, such as Tanga and Kilimanjaro. At the time of independence in 1961, Tanzania was the largest producer of sisal in the world. Sisal production continued to decline after the Ujamaa movement and the continued depreciation of world prices. In recent years, the government has tried to liberalize the sector to encourage growth and increase export revenues.[17]
Cashew production
Tanzania is one of the largest
Food Crops
The 11 food crops grown in Tanzania are as below list;
Herbs, vegetables and spices in Tanzania
Herbs, vegetables and spices in Tanzania include in the list below;
Fruits in Tanzania
Fruits in Tanzania include in the list below;
- Avocado
- Banana
- Coconut
- Clementine
- Guava
- Grape
- Jackfruit
- Lemon
- Lime
- Lychee
- Mangoe
- Orange
- Okra
- Passion fruit
- Papaya
- Pear
- Pineapple
- Tamarind
- Tomato
- Strawberry
- Watermelon
Statistics
Main crop production
The ten non-cash crop production from 2013 as reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as below table:[23]
Number | Food Crop | Area Harvested | Yield Hg/Ha | Production, 1000 tonnes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Casava | 950,000 | 56,842 | 5,400 |
2 | Maize | 4,000,000 | 11,750 | 4,700 |
3 | Sweet Potatoes | 675,000 | 45,926 | 3,100 |
4 | Sugar Cane | 30,000 | 1,000,000 | 3,000 |
5 | Rice, Paddy | 900,000 | 20,889 | 1,880 |
6 | Potatoes | 175,000 | 74,286 | 1,300 |
7 | Beans, dry | 1,300,000 | 8,846 | 1,150 |
8 | Sunflower seed | 810,000 | 13,370 | 1,083 |
9 | Sorghum | 900,000 | 9,444 | 850 |
10 | Groundnuts, with shell | 740,000 | 10,608 | 785 |
Source: FAO |
See also
References
- ^ "New Agriculturist: Country profile - Tanzania". www.new-ag.info. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
- ^ "Rural population (% of total population) | Data". data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
- ^ "Tanzania Agriculture". www.tanzaniainvest.com. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ^ "OEC - Tanzania (TZA) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners". atlas.media.mit.edu. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ^ "TANZANIA COFFEE INDUSTRY PROFILE". Tanzania Coffee Board. Tanzania Coffee Board. 2010. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ "Tanzania Agriculture, Information about Agriculture in Tanzania". www.nationsencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ^ "Reducing poverty through Kilimo Kwanza" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-12-15. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
- ^ Gaddis, Isis. "Land of opportunity: Should Tanzania encourage more large-scale farming?". blogs.worldbank.org. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-349-36814-3, retrieved 2020-05-25
- ISBN 978-0-19-870481-2, retrieved 2020-05-25
- ISBN 978-0-89118-322-8, retrieved 2020-05-30
- ^ "Tanzania. Poverty Report" (PDF).
- ^ "Tanzania". www.infoplease.com. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ^ "Tanzania". www.fao.org. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ^ Tanzania production in 2018, by FAO
- ^ "Tanzania's Coffee Sector: Constraints and Challenges in a Global Environment" (PDF). World Bank. June 2003. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
- ^ "Sisal: The most useful plant you've never heard of". CNN. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ See more at: http://africanbusinessmagazine.com/sectors/agriculture/tanzania-going-nuts-cashew/#sthash.NZrS8cFk.dpuf
- ^ Jiwaji, Aamera (7 November 2014). "Tanzania: Going nuts over cashew". African Business. Africa Business Magazine. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ^ "Guinea-Bissau 2014 cashew exports up 40 percent so far". Reuters Africa. Reuters Africa. 22 July 2014. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ^ "Cashewnut Board of Tanzania". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ^ "Tanzania's Cashew Sector: Constraints and Challenges in a Global Environment" (PDF). worldbank.org. World Bank. June 2004. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ^ "Tanzania Cereals Production - Open Data for Tanzania". tanzania.opendataforafrica.org. Retrieved 11 March 2016.