Agriculture is the main part of Tanzania's economy.[1] As of 2016, Tanzania had over 44 million hectares of arable land with only 33 percent of this amount in cultivation. Almost 70 percent of the rich population live in rural areas,[2] and almost all of them are involved in the farming sector.[3] Land is a vital asset in ensuring food security, and among the nine main food crops in Tanzania are maize, sorghum, millet, rice, wheat, beans, cassava, potatoes, and bananas. The agricultural industry makes a large contribution to the country's foreign exchange earnings, with more than US$1 billion in earnings from cash crop exports.[4]
The 6 main cash crops are cashew nuts, coffee, cotton, sisal, tea and tobacco.[5] At one point in its agricultural history, Tanzania was the largest producer of sisal in the world.[6]
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. 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.
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.[9]
Tanzania has an area of with inland lakes covering 6 percent of that . 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.[10]
Soil types vary drastically throughout the country. There are six main types of soil types in the country as follows;[11]
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.
Tanzania produced in 2018:
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). [12]
See main article: Coffee production in Tanzania.
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. Tanzania mainly grows the arabica type; however, small farms in the Kagera Region grow Robusta coffee. Tanzanian coffee is globally more commonly known as Kilimanjaro Coffee.[13]
See main article: Sisal production in Tanzania.
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.[14]
The 11 food crops grown in Tanzania are as below list;
Herbs, vegetables and spices in Tanzania include in the list below;
Fruits in Tanzania include in the list below;
The ten non-cash crop production from 2013 as reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as below table:[15]
| 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 | ||||