Unlocking the Heartland: A Strategic Analysis of Key Agricultural Value Chains in Tanzania’s Central Corridor

Kilimokwanza.org 2026- R4

Tanzania is embarking on a landmark transformation of its agricultural sector, transitioning from a successful regional pilot to a comprehensive national strategy. The official launch of the Agricultural Growth Corridors of Tanzania (AGCOT) in April 2025 represents the elevation of agriculture to the central pillar of the nation’s long-term economic vision, as articulated in the Agriculture Master Plan 2050. This report provides a strategic analysis of one of the four newly established corridors: the Central Corridor. Comprising the semi-arid regions of Dodoma, Singida, and Tabora, this corridor is being strategically rebranded from a logistical transit route into a productive hub for high-value agriculture, driven by a public-private partnership (PPP) model that anticipates 99% of investment will originate from the private sector.

The analysis identifies four priority value chains with distinct but synergistic roles in the corridor’s development. The mango value chain has been designated as the flagship, export-oriented commodity. Tanzania’s unique ability to supply global markets during their off-season presents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. However, this potential is severely undermined by a critical deficit in post-harvest infrastructure, leading to losses of 40-60%. Investment in cold storage, modern logistics, and processing facilities is the single most critical factor for unlocking this value chain and will create positive externalities for the broader horticultural sector.

The sunflower and sorghum value chains form the corridor’s economic and food security backbone. Sunflower, heavily concentrated in Dodoma and Singida, is vital for the domestic edible oil industry, offering a significant import substitution opportunity. Sorghum, a drought-tolerant staple, is fundamental to climate resilience and serves a growing industrial market, particularly in the brewing sector. Both chains are constrained by systemic weaknesses in seed systems, poor post-harvest management, and fragmented market linkages. For sorghum, quality control and the mitigation of aflatoxin contamination are paramount for market access. For sunflower, the linkage between its oil production and the supply of seed cake for animal feed makes it a lynchpin for creating a more integrated, circular agricultural economy.

The livestock sector represents a pivotal synergistic opportunity. While currently underperforming, Tanzania’s vast livestock population can be transformed into a value-addition engine for the entire corridor. By creating local demand for by-products like sunflower cake and sorghum stovers, a modernized livestock sector can convert low-value crop residues into high-value meat, dairy, and leather products, capturing significant economic value that is currently being lost.

The success of the Central Corridor hinges on creating a robust enabling environment. This requires a strategic, phased, and clustered approach to investment, mirroring the successful model of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT). Public and donor funds must be targeted to de-risk private investment by financing “public good” infrastructure, such as rural feeder roads and common-user processing facilities. Financial instruments must be tailored to the needs of smallholders and SMEs, and the AGCOT Centre must effectively execute its mandate as a neutral broker to foster trust and enforce contracts within emerging PPPs. This report concludes with actionable recommendations for policymakers, private investors, and development partners, outlining a clear pathway to transform the Central Corridor from a region of potential into a resilient and prosperous engine of Tanzania’s agricultural growth.

Section 1: The AGCOT Framework: Tanzania’s New Blueprint for Agricultural Transformation

The United Republic of Tanzania has initiated a profound strategic pivot in its national development agenda, elevating the agricultural sector from a component of the economy to its central engine for growth, industrialization, and food security. This shift is embodied in the formal launch of the Agricultural Growth Corridors of Tanzania (AGCOT), a nationwide framework designed to replicate and scale the successes of a decade-long regional pilot program. The establishment of AGCOT is not merely an administrative expansion but a clear articulation of a new vision for how public policy and private capital can be harnessed to unlock the nation’s vast agricultural potential. This section details the evolution of this framework, its institutional architecture, and its alignment with Tanzania’s highest-level economic ambitions.

From Regional Pilot to National Strategy: The SAGCOT-to-AGCOT Evolution

On April 27, 2025, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa officially launched the four national Agricultural Growth Corridors, a move announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Hussein Mohamed Bashe, during the 2025/2026 national budget presentation.¹ This initiative marks the culmination of a strategic evolution that began with the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT). Established in 2011 as a public-private partnership (PPP), SAGCOT was designed to catalyze sustainable agricultural development in the country’s fertile Southern Highlands.²

Over its 14-year lifespan, the SAGCOT pilot program demonstrated the profound impact of a coordinated, corridor-based approach. The initiative was instrumental in transforming the Southern Highlands into Tanzania’s primary food basket, now accounting for over 65% of the nation’s total food production.⁴ Its achievements provided a compelling proof of concept. By 2024, SAGCOT had successfully mobilized substantial investments, with some reports citing a total of $6.34 billion—comprising $5.02 billion in public funding for enabling infrastructure and $1.32 billion from the private sector for commercial farming and processing.⁶ This investment empowered over one million smallholder farmers, brought 1.3 million hectares under climate-resilient cultivation, generated over $600 million in farm revenues, and created more than 253,000 new jobs.⁶

The success of the SAGCOT model, which achieved many of its 2030 objectives well ahead of schedule, generated significant demand from stakeholders in other key agricultural regions—namely the Central, Mtwara, and Northern corridors—for inclusion in a similar framework.⁵ This momentum culminated in a landmark presidential directive on March 17, 2023, from H.E. President Samia Suluhu Hassan, calling for the nationwide replication of the SAGCOT model.⁸ The subsequent launch of AGCOT formalized this directive, creating a unified national framework to drive rural transformation across Tanzania’s diverse ecological zones.¹ This high-level political backing, originating from the presidency and executed through the Prime Minister’s office and the national budget, signals that AGCOT is a top-tier national priority. This sustained political will is a critical intangible asset that provides a degree of policy stability, thereby helping to de-risk the long-term private investment required for the initiative’s success.

Institutional Architecture and Governance

To manage this ambitious national scale-up, the government has established a new institutional architecture. The four corridors—Central, Southern, Mtwara, and Northern—will be coordinated by the newly created Agriculture Transformation Office (ATO) under the Ministry of Agriculture.¹ This central body is tasked with ensuring a harmonized approach to agricultural development across the country.

The operational core of the previous model, the SAGCOT Centre, is being integrated into this new structure and has been renamed the AGCOT Centre.¹ This integration is a strategic move designed to preserve institutional knowledge, leverage existing partnerships, and scale up proven methodologies. The AGCOT Centre will continue to function as an “honest facilitator” and “broker,” a role it honed under SAGCOT.⁴ Its mission remains to foster relationships and catalyze partnerships between government entities, private agro-industries, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and smallholder farmers to drive the transformation of agricultural value chains.⁴ This model of a neutral, trusted intermediary is crucial for navigating the complexities of public-private collaboration, resolving policy constraints, and building the consensus needed for sustainable development.⁵ The AGCOT Centre will be the operational nucleus for corridor development, deploying implementation teams across all zones and overseeing investment facilitation, regulatory dialogue, and performance monitoring.⁶

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Model and National Alignment

The AGCOT framework is fundamentally rooted in a public-private partnership model, but with an unprecedented emphasis on private sector leadership. The initiative carries the ambitious target for 99% of the required investment to be sourced from the private sector.¹⁰ This target fundamentally redefines the role of the government. Rather than acting as the primary funder of agricultural projects, the government’s principal function shifts to that of a facilitator, enabler, and de-risker of private capital. Its success will be measured not by its direct budgetary outlay for farming activities, but by its effectiveness in creating an enabling environment that attracts and retains private investment. This includes providing critical “public good” infrastructure (as seen in SAGCOT’s public investment in roads and energy), ensuring a stable and predictable policy environment, resolving systemic constraints such as land tenure, and streamlining regulatory processes.⁵

This strategic approach is deeply embedded within Tanzania’s broader national development vision. AGCOT is explicitly positioned as Flagship No. 7 under the country’s long-term Agriculture Master Plan (AMP) 2050, serving as the primary implementation vehicle for the plan’s transformative goals.⁶ The AMP 2050 aims to propel Tanzania to upper-middle-income status by mid-century, with a modern, commercialized, and globally competitive agricultural sector as its primary engine.¹¹ By aligning with the AMP 2050 and the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) agenda, AGCOT replaces fragmented, project-based interventions with a cohesive, systems-level approach designed to catalyze large-scale, private sector-led rural development.¹

Section 2: The Central Corridor: An Agro-Economic and Logistical Profile

The Central Corridor is one of the four pillars of the new AGCOT framework, a region with a distinct identity shaped by its geography, climate, and historical role in regional trade. The success of the AGCOT initiative within this zone depends on a clear-eyed understanding of its unique agro-ecological characteristics, its existing logistical infrastructure, and the socio-economic fabric of its communities. The government’s strategy for the corridor represents a deliberate effort to build upon its existing strengths while transforming its fundamental economic purpose.

Geographical and Agro-Ecological Definition

Under the AGCOT framework, the Central Corridor is primarily defined by the administrative regions of Dodoma, Singida, and Tabora.¹⁰ This vast heartland of Tanzania is characterized by a predominantly semi-arid climate, with erratic rainfall patterns that present significant challenges for traditional, rain-fed agriculture.¹⁵ This climatic reality has naturally favored the cultivation of drought-tolerant crops, making the region a national powerhouse for specific commodities.

Dodoma region is the nation’s leading producer of sunflower, accounting for 40.3% of total production according to the 2019/20 agricultural census, and is also a major producer of groundnuts.¹⁷ Singida is the country’s second-largest sunflower producer (13.5%) and a significant source of other key crops, including sorghum, maize, and onions.¹⁸ All three regions—Dodoma, Singida, and Tabora—are major cultivation zones for sorghum, a crop of immense strategic importance for both food security and industrial use.²⁰ Furthermore, these regions host a substantial portion of Tanzania’s large livestock population, with traditional pastoralism and agro-pastoralism being integral to the rural economy.¹⁸

The Dual-Role Dilemma: Transport Artery vs. Agricultural Hub

Historically, the Central Corridor’s primary identity has been that of a critical transportation artery. It serves as the main logistical route connecting the Port of Dar es Salaam via road, rail, and inland waterways to the landlocked markets of Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.²³ This function is managed by the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTTFA), whose strategic plan (2021-2025) is focused on optimizing this transit role to become the “competitive and sustainable trade route of choice”.²⁴ The corridor’s existing infrastructure is a foundational asset; performance data indicates that it already offers faster transit times from Dar es Salaam to key regional hubs like Kigali and Kampala compared to the alternative Northern Corridor.²⁶

The AGCOT initiative marks a deliberate policy effort to rebrand and repurpose this corridor. The strategy is to evolve its function from being a purely logistical “transit” zone for the goods of other nations to becoming a productive “origin” zone for Tanzania’s own high-value agricultural exports. This creates a powerful potential synergy where the established transport network can serve as the primary export channel for newly generated agricultural wealth. However, this dual role also presents a potential strategic tension. The logistical requirements of regional transit cargo (e.g., container handling, customs efficiency) may differ from the needs of local agricultural value chains, which require specialized infrastructure such as cold chain logistics, rural feeder roads to connect farms to highways, and aggregation centers. A key challenge for policymakers will be to ensure that infrastructure planning and investment serve both purposes, preventing the needs of local producers from being sidelined by the demands of international transit trade.

Baseline Agricultural Economy and Livelihoods

Agriculture is the undisputed backbone of the Central Corridor’s economy. In regions like Singida, it is the primary source of employment for over 90% of the population.¹⁹ The sector is overwhelmingly characterized by smallholder farming systems.¹⁹ According to the 2019/20 agricultural census, Dodoma has the largest number of agricultural households of any region in Tanzania, with 510,148 households engaged in farming.¹⁸

For these households, livestock keeping is a critical component of their livelihood strategy. Nationally, livestock sales contribute 13.8% of rural household income, a figure that rises to nearly 20% for the poorest households, making it a vital safety net and source of capital.²² The semi-arid climate, while challenging for some crops, has shaped the corridor’s agricultural identity. The strategic prioritization of drought-tolerant value chains like sorghum and sunflower, alongside high-value horticultural crops like mangoes that can thrive with efficient irrigation, represents a pragmatic approach that adapts to the region’s agro-ecology. This focus on climate-appropriate agriculture turns a potential constraint into a source of comparative advantage, positioning the Central Corridor as a potential model for climate-smart development that could attract specialized green financing and international support.

Table 1: Agro-Economic Profile of the Central Corridor Regions

Region	Key Agricultural Statistics	Key Infrastructure	AGCOT Priority
Dodoma	– Leading agricultural household population (510,148).¹⁸	– Top sunflower producer (202,528 tons; 40.3% of national total in 2019/20).18	– Major sorghum and groundnut producer.18	– Large livestock population.18	– Central Railway Line. – Tanzania-Zambia Highway (TANZAM). – Major road hub.	– Mango Production Hub. – Sunflower & Sorghum Value Chains. – Livestock Development.
Singida	– Second-largest sunflower producer (67,706 tons; 13.5% in 2019/20).¹⁸	– Major producer of sorghum, onions, groundnuts, and maize.19	– Over 90% of the population employed in agriculture.19	– Significant livestock keeping.27	– Central Railway Line. – Major road connections to Arusha, Dodoma, and Tabora.	– Sunflower & Sorghum Value Chains. – Mango Production Hub. – Livestock Development.
Tabora	– Major producer of groundnuts, sorghum, and maize.¹⁸	– Significant beekeeping and tobacco cultivation.- Large livestock population, particularly cattle.18	– TADB Zonal Office established to serve the region.31	– Central Railway Line intersection. – Key road links to Mwanza, Kigoma, and Mbeya.	– Mango Production Hub. – Sorghum Value Chain. – Livestock Development.

Section 3: Priority Value Chain Analysis I: Mango – Cultivating a High-Value Export Hub

Within the AGCOT framework for the Central Corridor, the mango value chain has been designated as the flagship initiative, a high-potential commodity intended to spearhead the region’s transformation into an export-oriented agricultural powerhouse. This strategic choice is underpinned by a compelling economic rationale and a unique market opportunity. However, the gap between this ambitious vision and the current reality of the sector is vast, defined by systemic weaknesses in post-harvest management and infrastructure. The development of the mango value chain is thus a high-risk, high-reward endeavor that will serve as a critical test of the AGCOT model’s ability to catalyze transformative, private sector-led investment.

Strategic Designation and Market Potential

The government’s plan for the central zone is explicit: to establish it as “Tanzania’s mango production hub”.¹⁰ This is envisioned as a long-term, 20-year initiative, driven almost entirely by private sector capital. The strategic importance of this choice is rooted in the crop’s immense economic potential. Mangoes are identified as a high-value export food capable of generating up to ten times more income for the country than established cash crops like cashew nuts.¹⁰

This optimism is supported by global market dynamics. The international mango market was valued at an estimated $67.95 billion in 2024 and is expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7%.³² More significantly, Tanzania possesses a crucial competitive advantage that few other nations can claim: its production cycle allows it to supply fresh mangoes to the global market during the international

off-season.³² This unique market window, when supply from the world’s largest producers is low, creates the potential for premium pricing and secures a strategic niche for Tanzanian exports.

Production, Agronomy, and Farmer Profile

Tanzania is already a significant player in mango production, ranking as the 12th largest producer globally with an annual output of approximately 700,000 metric tons.³² The sector is the domain of smallholder farmers, who account for an estimated 99% of all production, typically cultivating plots that average 3.5 acres.³² This broad base means that any investment and growth in the mango sector has the potential for a direct and widespread impact on rural livelihoods.

Despite the scale of production, the value chain is beset by significant constraints at the farm level that suppress both yield and quality. Key challenges include:

Pest and Disease Management: The prevalence of pests, particularly fruit flies, causes substantial damage to crops, reducing the volume of marketable fruit and often leading to quarantine restrictions in lucrative export markets.³²
Agronomic Practices: There is a widespread lack of technical knowledge regarding optimal agronomic practices. Poor soil health management and a lack of understanding of the role of essential microelements like zinc and boron in flowering and fruit setting lead to suboptimal productivity.³²
Input Systems: The foundation of a modern horticultural sector—a reliable supply of high-quality planting materials—is weak. Farmers have limited access to certified mother trees and reliable grafted seedlings of commercially desirable varieties, which hampers efforts to expand and upgrade production.³²

Post-Harvest, Processing, and Value Addition

The most acute and value-destroying weaknesses in the mango value chain are found in the post-harvest segment. The sector is plagued by staggering levels of post-harvest loss, with credible estimates suggesting that 40% to 60% of the mangoes produced never reach a final market.³² This represents a massive economic drain and is the single greatest barrier to realizing the industry’s potential.

These losses are a direct result of a severe and systemic deficit in essential infrastructure. The entire post-harvest system is inadequate, from the farm gate to the port. This includes:

Logistics: Poor rural road networks make it difficult and time-consuming to transport the highly perishable fruit from farms to aggregation points.
Cold Chain: There is a near-total absence of a functioning cold chain, including pre-cooling facilities, refrigerated transport, and cold storage warehouses. This lack of temperature control dramatically accelerates spoilage.
Processing Capacity: Only a very small fraction of Tanzania’s mango harvest is processed. The lack of large-scale processing plants to convert surplus or lower-grade fresh fruit into value-added products like juice, pulp, chutneys, or dried mangoes leaves farmers exceptionally vulnerable to fresh market price volatility and contributes directly to post-harvest losses.³²

The government’s strategy to create a “mango hub” is therefore less about incrementally improving an existing system and more about building a sophisticated, export-grade horticultural value chain from a very low infrastructural base. This represents a classic coordination failure: no single actor—farmer, transporter, or processor—has the incentive or capacity to unilaterally invest in the systemic infrastructure needed. Success will require a “big push” of coordinated investment, particularly in these post-harvest assets. The potential rewards are transformative, but the risks, especially given the reliance on private capital to fund these foundational investments, are equally high.

Crucially, the infrastructure required to solve the mango problem would have far-reaching benefits. A cold storage facility, a reliable logistics network, a processing plant, and a system for quality certification are all “enabling assets.” Once established, they can be utilized by producers of a wide range of other perishable, high-value commodities, such as other fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meat. Therefore, investment in the mango value chain should be viewed as a catalytic act that can create positive externalities across the entire agricultural economy of the Central Corridor, potentially justifying public or donor co-investment to de-risk these foundational assets and unlock broader regional growth.

Section 4: Priority Value Chain Analysis II: Sunflower & Oilseeds – Fueling Domestic Industry and Livelihoods

While mango represents the high-value export ambition for the Central Corridor, the sunflower value chain constitutes its current agro-economic backbone. Heavily concentrated within the corridor’s key regions, sunflower is a commodity of immense strategic importance for Tanzania’s domestic market, offering a clear pathway toward import substitution, enhanced food security, and broad-based income generation for a vast number of smallholder farmers. However, the value chain is currently caught in a low-productivity trap, held back by systemic constraints at every stage from seed to shelf.

Production Landscape and Economic Significance

The Central Corridor is the epicenter of Tanzania’s sunflower production. The 2019/20 National Sample Census of Agriculture confirmed that Dodoma and Singida are the top two producing regions in the country, collectively accounting for over 53% of the national total.¹⁸ The sector is the primary livelihood for an estimated one million smallholder farmers, making it a cornerstone of the rural economy.³⁶ For many households in the region, sunflower is a critical cash crop, contributing between 5-10% of their total cash income.³⁸

The primary economic driver for the sector is the substantial and growing domestic demand for edible oil. Tanzania currently imports more than half of its annual cooking oil requirement, which is estimated to be upwards of 500,000 metric tons.³⁶ The bulk of these imports consists of palm oil, creating a major opportunity for import substitution with locally produced and consumer-preferred sunflower oil.³⁶ Developing the domestic sunflower value chain is therefore not just an agricultural issue but a matter of national economic strategy, with the potential to reduce pressure on foreign currency reserves and strengthen the country’s trade balance.

Value Chain Constraints: A Low-Productivity Trap

Despite its importance, the sunflower value chain is characterized by significant inefficiencies that prevent it from realizing its full potential. These constraints manifest at every node of the chain, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of low productivity and low profitability.

Production Node: At the farm level, productivity is exceptionally low. The national average yield is approximately 0.6 tonnes per acre, a fraction of the potential yield of 2 to 3 tonnes per acre that could be achieved with improved practices and inputs.¹⁵ This yield gap is driven by several interrelated factors:

Seed Systems: There is a critical bottleneck in the supply of high-quality seeds. Farmers have limited access to improved and hybrid seed varieties, and even when available, the high price can be prohibitive.³⁶ This leads to the widespread use of low-yielding, open-pollinated varieties or recycled seeds.
Access to Finance: Smallholder farmers lack access to affordable credit to purchase quality inputs like seeds and fertilizers or to invest in mechanization.²⁸
Extension Services: The agricultural extension system is fragmented and under-resourced, leaving many farmers without the technical knowledge needed to adopt good agricultural practices.³⁶
Processing Node: The midstream of the value chain is dominated by hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in oil processing.³⁶ While this demonstrates entrepreneurial activity, the sector is hampered by:

Inefficient Technology: Most SMEs use simple, inexpensive crushing technologies that have low oil extraction rates and produce semi-refined oil of inconsistent quality.¹⁷
Underutilization of Capacity: A majority of these processing plants operate far below their installed capacity, often processing only 1 to 2 metric tons per day against a potential of 4.5 to 18 metric tons. This is primarily due to a lack of sufficient working capital to procure adequate volumes of raw sunflower seed.³⁶
Market Node: At the final market, locally produced sunflower oil faces stiff competition. The semi-refined oil produced by most SMEs struggles to compete on price with cheaper, fully refined palm oil imports.³⁹ Furthermore, the entire value chain suffers from poor coordination among farmers, traders, and processors, which weakens their collective bargaining power, limits access to structured markets, and hinders the flow of market information.³⁶

Synergies and By-Products

A critical feature of the sunflower value chain is the production of a valuable by-product: sunflower seed cake. This cake is a high-protein ingredient essential for the production of animal feed.⁴⁰ The lack of reliable markets for this by-product is cited as a constraint for oil processors.³⁸ This creates a direct and powerful synergistic link to the region’s large livestock sector.

The sunflower value chain is a lynchpin for a more integrated and circular agricultural economy in the Central Corridor. Its primary output, edible oil, directly addresses national food security and trade balance objectives. Its primary by-product, seed cake, is a critical input for the livestock value chain, which is itself constrained by the availability of quality feed. Therefore, strengthening the sunflower processing sector would generate a direct, positive multiplier effect across the corridor’s economy. It would increase the supply of affordable, locally produced cooking oil, reducing reliance on imports. Simultaneously, it would boost the local supply of affordable, high-quality animal feed, which in turn would enhance the productivity and profitability of the livestock sector. This profound cross-value chain linkage makes targeted investment in sunflower processing—particularly in technologies that improve both oil and cake quality—a uniquely strategic intervention with the potential to uplift multiple sectors at once.

Section 5: Priority Value Chain Analysis III: Sorghum & Resilient Grains – Ensuring Food Security and Industrial Linkages

Sorghum holds a position of immense strategic importance within the Central Corridor’s agricultural landscape. As a highly drought-tolerant cereal, it is the cornerstone of climate resilience and food security for a region defined by its semi-arid conditions. Beyond its role as a staple food, sorghum has a growing and vital linkage to Tanzania’s industrial sector, providing a key raw material for the brewing industry. The development of this value chain offers a clear model for how to build climate-resilient livelihoods while forging sustainable public-private partnerships, though it is not without significant challenges, particularly in post-harvest management and market coordination.

A Climate-Resilient Staple

Sorghum is the third most widely cultivated cereal in Tanzania, after maize and rice, with an annual production of around 500,000 to 750,000 tons.⁴² Its cultivation is heavily concentrated in the semi-arid zones of the country, making the Central Corridor regions of Dodoma, Singida, and Tabora, along with the adjacent Lake Zone, the primary production areas.²⁰

The crop’s primary strategic value lies in its resilience. In an environment characterized by increasingly erratic and declining rainfall, sorghum offers a more reliable alternative to the traditional staple, maize, which is more vulnerable to drought.¹⁶ Research from the region confirms that climate variability negatively impacts cereal yields, reinforcing the need to promote drought-tolerant crop varieties.⁴⁵ For farmers in the Central Corridor, sorghum is therefore not just a cash crop but a critical tool for climate adaptation and household food security.

Dual Market Channels: Subsistence and Industry

The sorghum value chain in the Central Corridor is characterized by two distinct market channels that coexist, each with its own dynamics and challenges.

Local and Subsistence Markets: A significant portion of sorghum production is for household consumption, where it is a key ingredient for staple foods like ugali.¹⁶ The surplus is sold in local, often unstructured markets. Historically, commercialization has been low, with these informal markets offering farmers low prices and little bargaining power, which in turn disincentivizes investment in improved production techniques.⁴²
Industrial Markets and Contract Farming: A more structured and lucrative market channel has emerged through demand from large-scale industrial off-takers, most notably Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) and other breweries that use sorghum as a primary ingredient in their products.¹⁶ This industrial demand has led to the establishment of contract farming schemes, where companies or their agents enter into agreements with farmers to purchase their harvest at a pre-agreed price. This model provides farmers with a guaranteed market, which is a powerful incentive to increase production and adopt improved varieties. For example, in 2021, TBL purchased 125 metric tons of sorghum from just 84 farmers in one village, and contracts were in place for the delivery of 10,000 metric tons from farmers across the Dodoma region.¹⁶

Key Challenges Along the Value Chain

Despite the opportunities presented by industrial demand, the sorghum value chain is hampered by significant bottlenecks that limit its overall efficiency, profitability, and sustainability.

Production: While improved, high-yielding sorghum varieties such as Macia and Tegemeo have been developed and are available, their adoption remains inconsistent.⁴² Many farmers still lack adequate knowledge of good agricultural practices, from proper planting methods to pest management, which suppresses potential yields.¹⁶
Post-Harvest Management: This is arguably the most critical weakness in the entire value chain. Post-harvest losses are alarmingly high, estimated at 30-40% of the total crop.⁴⁷ These losses are driven by inadequate on-farm storage facilities and the continued reliance on traditional, inefficient threshing methods. Beyond the quantitative loss, poor post-harvest handling severely degrades the quality of the grain. This leads to the pervasive and dangerous problem of
aflatoxin contamination, a toxic compound produced by fungi that thrive in improperly dried and stored grain.⁴² Aflatoxin not only poses a severe health risk to consumers but also results in automatic rejection by high-value industrial buyers and renders the crop unfit for export.
Market Linkages: The contract farming model, while promising, is not without its frictions. Farmers have reported significant challenges, including delayed payments from buyers and disputes over pricing and the imposition of local levies, which can erode their profits and trust in the system.¹⁶

The experience with contract farming in the sorghum sector provides a valuable, real-world case study for the broader AGCOT strategy. It demonstrates that a guaranteed market is a powerful catalyst for smallholder commercialization, effectively de-risking the decision for farmers to invest in better seeds and practices. However, it also reveals the inherent fragility of these relationships. The success of such PPP models hinges on trust, transparency, and the enforcement of contractual obligations. This underscores the critical importance of the AGCOT Centre’s intended role as a neutral “honest broker.” An active intermediary is needed to mediate these partnerships, help standardize contracts, resolve disputes over payments and quality standards, and ensure that the benefits are distributed equitably. Without this facilitation, promising partnerships can easily collapse, undermining the entire development model.

Section 6: Synergies and Emerging Opportunities: The Livestock Sector

While the Central Corridor’s development strategy is anchored by its priority crop value chains—mango, sunflower, and sorghum—a comprehensive analysis reveals that the livestock sector is not a separate entity but a deeply integrated and synergistic component of the region’s agricultural ecosystem. Tanzania’s vast livestock population represents a currently underutilized asset, a “sleeping giant” whose awakening is essential for maximizing value addition, enhancing rural incomes, and creating a more resilient and circular agricultural economy within the corridor.

Sector Overview: A Sleeping Giant

Tanzania possesses one of the largest livestock populations in Africa. The country is home to the second-largest cattle herd on the continent, with an estimated 36.6 million head, and ranks among the top ten for its populations of sheep, goats, and poultry.²² The Central Corridor regions are significant centers for livestock keeping, with production dominated by traditional, extensive grazing and agro-pastoral systems.⁴⁹

However, despite the sheer scale of this resource, the livestock sector’s economic performance has been underwhelming. It is characterized by low productivity, with growth primarily reflecting increases in animal numbers rather than gains in efficiency.⁵⁰ Consequently, the sector contributes a relatively small 7.4% to Tanzania’s GDP, a figure that lags behind regional peers with comparable livestock populations, such as Ethiopia (19% of GDP) and Kenya (12% of GDP).²² This large gap between the sector’s physical scale and its economic output points to a massive, untapped potential for growth and value creation.

Critical Integration with Crop Value Chains

The most compelling opportunity for the livestock sector within the Central Corridor lies in its potential for deep integration with the priority crop value chains. This synergy operates in two key directions:

Feed Linkage (Crops to Livestock): A modern, productive livestock sector requires a consistent supply of high-quality animal feed. The Central Corridor’s crop value chains are a major potential source of these inputs. The processing of sunflower generates large quantities of sunflower seed cake, a high-protein by-product that is a prime ingredient in animal rations.⁴⁰ Similarly, the stovers (stalks and leaves) from the sorghum harvest can be used as fodder for ruminants.⁴⁴ By developing a commercial livestock industry—including poultry operations, dairy farms, and cattle feedlots—the corridor can create a stable, local market for these agricultural by-products. This transforms what might otherwise be considered low-value residue or waste into a critical, value-added input, increasing the overall profitability and efficiency of the crop sectors.
Nutrient Cycling (Livestock to Crops): The integration also flows in the opposite direction. Livestock produce manure, which is a vital source of organic matter and nutrients for the soil.⁵² In a region where soil health is a concern, the systematic collection and application of manure can reduce farmers’ reliance on expensive synthetic fertilizers, lower production costs, and improve the long-term fertility and water-holding capacity of the soil. This is particularly beneficial for nutrient-demanding horticultural crops like mangoes and for improving yields in the sunflower and sorghum value chains.

Key Constraints and Growth Pathways

Realizing this synergistic potential requires addressing the significant constraints that currently hold the livestock sector back. The primary challenges include the impacts of climate change on the availability of water and natural pasture, the high prevalence of animal diseases, and a severe deficit in infrastructure for markets, processing facilities (abattoirs), and veterinary services.²² Compounding these issues is a history of chronic public underfunding, which has limited investment in research, extension, and essential infrastructure.²²

Despite these challenges, the pathways for growth are clear. There are significant investment opportunities in establishing modern abattoirs and meat processing facilities, developing commercial dairy value chains, and, crucially, creating a commercial animal feed industry that can process local crop by-products.⁵⁴ A strategy that focuses only on developing the crop value chains in isolation is fundamentally incomplete. The livestock sector is the corridor’s natural “value-added engine.” By creating a local market for crop by-products and transforming them into high-value animal products (meat, milk, eggs, leather), an integrated livestock strategy can capture immense economic value within the corridor, creating a virtuous cycle of production, processing, and income generation that benefits actors across all value chains.

Section 7: The Enabling Environment: Cross-Cutting Drivers of Success

The ambitious transformation of the Central Corridor’s agricultural sector cannot be achieved through value-chain-specific interventions alone. The success of the mango, sunflower, sorghum, and livestock sectors is contingent upon a robust and supportive “enabling environment.” This foundational ecosystem, comprising physical infrastructure, accessible finance, and effective institutions, will ultimately determine the pace and sustainability of growth. Addressing the systemic weaknesses in this environment is a prerequisite for attracting the significant private investment that the AGCOT model demands.

Infrastructure and Logistics: The Hard-Wiring for Growth

While the Central Corridor benefits from its primary transport arteries, the critical infrastructure gap lies in the “first mile” and “last mile” connections that link agricultural production to the wider economy. A recurring theme across all value chains is the urgent need for investment in foundational infrastructure:

Rural Feeder Roads: The lack of all-weather rural roads is a major impediment, increasing transportation costs, causing delays, and leading to significant post-harvest losses, especially for perishable products like mangoes.³⁴ Development partner initiatives, such as the USAID-funded Irrigation and Rural Roads Infrastructure Program (IRRIP), which upgraded 390 km of rural roads and rehabilitated irrigation schemes, provide a proven model for impactful intervention that directly enhances market access and improves livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of Tanzanians.⁵⁷
Irrigation: Given the corridor’s semi-arid climate and erratic rainfall, expanding access to irrigation is essential for de-risking production, stabilizing yields, and enabling the cultivation of higher-value crops.⁵⁸ While the potential is promising, currently only a small fraction of farming households in Tanzania utilize irrigation, highlighting a significant area for development.⁵⁹
Value-Chain-Specific Infrastructure: Beyond roads and water, the corridor suffers from a deficit of specialized infrastructure. The near-total lack of cold storage facilities is a primary driver of the 40-60% post-harvest losses in the mango value chain.³² Similarly, the absence of
modern, centralized warehouses with proper drying and aeration capabilities contributes to quality degradation and aflatoxin risk in the sorghum value chain.⁶⁰ Furthermore, a lack of
reliable and affordable energy is a major constraint for agro-processors, from small-scale sunflower oil millers to potential large-scale mango pulp factories.⁶¹

Agricultural Finance and Investment: Fueling the Engine

A persistent and systemic constraint across all value chains is the limited access to affordable finance. This affects actors at every level, from smallholder farmers unable to afford quality seeds and fertilizers to SME processors lacking the working capital to purchase raw materials and upgrade their equipment.²⁸

Several key institutions and initiatives are working to address this financing gap:

The Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) is a critical state-backed institution with a mandate to provide preferential loans to the sector. Its strategic decision to open a Western Zone office in Tabora in February 2024 signals a clear commitment to serving the financial needs of farmers, pastoralists, and fisheries in the Central Corridor.³¹
Development partners are also playing a crucial role in de-risking agricultural finance. The USAID Feed the Future Tanzania Agri-Finance Project, for example, takes a dual approach. On the demand side, it works to strengthen the “bankability” of smallholders and SMEs. On the supply side, it provides technical assistance to financial institutions to help them develop appropriate agri-finance products and improve their capacity for risk assessment and portfolio management.⁶²

Institutional Capacity and Coordination

The successful implementation of the AGCOT strategy depends heavily on the capacity of a network of public and private institutions to coordinate effectively. The AGCOT Centre is positioned as the central coordinating body, tasked with facilitating partnerships and resolving policy bottlenecks.¹ Its ability to act as a trusted, neutral broker will be essential for the success of contract farming schemes and other PPP arrangements.

At the local level, the capacity of Local Government Authorities (LGAs) to provide effective agricultural extension services, manage land allocation for new investments, and support farmer cooperatives is critical. At the national level, research and development institutions are the engine of innovation. The Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) is responsible for developing and releasing improved, climate-resilient crop varieties, such as new sorghum hybrids.⁴⁷ Academic institutions like

Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) contribute vital research on value chain dynamics, gender inclusion, and livelihood impacts, providing the evidence base for sound policy and investment decisions.⁶⁴

Given the immense scale of the Central Corridor and the depth of its infrastructure and financial needs, a “big bang” approach to development is neither financially nor logistically feasible. The experience of the SAGCOT initiative, which successfully employed a “cluster” approach, offers the most viable path forward.³ This model involves concentrating initial investments and interventions in specific, high-potential geographic zones to achieve a critical mass of activity, infrastructure, and services. For the Central Corridor, this could mean designating a “pilot mango cluster” in a specific district, where investments in a processing plant, cold storage, feeder roads, and targeted extension services are concentrated. The success of such a pilot would create a proven, de-risked, and replicable model that could then attract the private investment needed to scale the approach to other clusters and value chains across the corridor. This phased and focused strategy is essential for managing risk and demonstrating early wins to build momentum and investor confidence.

Section 8: Strategic Synthesis and Forward-Looking Recommendations

The transformation of Tanzania’s Central Corridor from a logistical artery into a vibrant agricultural heartland is a central objective of the national AGCOT strategy. The analysis of its priority value chains—mango, sunflower, sorghum, and livestock—reveals a region of immense potential, defined by unique market opportunities and powerful internal synergies. However, this potential is currently constrained by significant and systemic weaknesses in infrastructure, finance, and market coordination. Realizing the corridor’s promise requires a coherent, multi-stakeholder strategy that leverages public and donor support to de-risk and catalyze the large-scale private investment needed for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Synthesis: The Central Corridor’s Transformation Pathway

The strategic pathway for the Central Corridor involves a multi-pronged approach where each priority value chain plays a distinct but complementary role. The high-value mango chain is positioned as the “export spearhead,” with the potential to generate significant foreign exchange and drive the development of export-grade infrastructure like cold chains and processing facilities, which can then be leveraged by other horticultural producers. The sunflower and sorghum chains serve as the corridor’s “resilient core,” ensuring domestic food security, providing critical raw materials for local industries (edible oils, brewing), and building climate resilience among smallholder farmers. Finally, the livestock sector acts as the “synergistic engine,” creating a circular bioeconomy by converting crop by-products into high-value animal protein, thereby adding value across the entire agricultural system. This integrated vision, if successfully implemented, can transform the corridor into a diversified, commercially robust, and climate-resilient economic zone.

The table below provides a comparative synthesis of the key findings for each priority value chain, offering a strategic overview for decision-makers.

Table 2: Comparative Analysis of Priority Value Chains in the Central Corridor

Value Chain	Current Production Status	Estimated Market Potential	Key Constraints	Key Opportunities	Investment Priority Level
Mango	12th largest global producer (~700k MT/yr); 99% smallholder-based.³²	High (Export): $67.95B global market; unique off-season supply advantage.³²	1. Extreme post-harvest losses (40-60%).³³	2. Lack of cold chain & processing infrastructure.32	3. Poor access to quality planting materials.32	1. Capitalize on off-season export window.³²	2. Develop value-added products (juice, pulp).33	3. Establish a model for export-grade horticulture.	High
Sunflower	Top national production zone (Dodoma, Singida); 1M smallholder farmers.¹⁸	High (Domestic): Massive import substitution opportunity for edible oil.³⁶	1. Low farm-level productivity (yield gap).¹⁵	2. Poor access to hybrid seeds & finance.36	3. Inefficient SME processing technology.36	1. Reduce national import bill for palm oil.³⁹	2. Supply seed cake to the growing livestock sector.40	3. Improve rural incomes at scale.	High
Sorghum	Major cereal in the semi-arid zone; key for food security.⁴²	Medium (Domestic/Industrial): Stable demand from breweries (TBL); food security crop.¹⁶	1. High post-harvest losses & aflatoxin risk.⁴⁷	2. Weak market linkages & payment delays.16	3. Low adoption of good agricultural practices.48	1. Climate resilience and adaptation.¹⁶	2. Strengthen industrial supply chains via contract farming.47	3. Improve food security in drought-prone areas.	Medium
Livestock	2nd largest cattle herd in Africa; low productivity; traditional systems dominate.²²	High (Domestic/Regional): Growing demand for meat & dairy; potential for regional exports.²²	1. Feed and water scarcity.²²	2. High disease burden.22	3. Lack of modern processing infrastructure.54	1. Create a market for crop by-products (sunflower cake).⁴⁰	2. Value addition (meat, dairy, leather processing).55	3. Improve rural household income diversification.22	Medium

Actionable Recommendations

Based on the comprehensive analysis, the following multi-layered recommendations are proposed for key stakeholder groups to unlock the Central Corridor’s potential.

For Policymakers (Ministry of Agriculture, ATO, AGCOT Centre)

Finalize and Implement a Clustered Investment Blueprint: Expedite the development of the official Investment Blueprint for the Central Corridor, as called for by partners like AGRA.⁶⁷ This blueprint must adopt the proven cluster-based model of SAGCOT, prioritizing initial investments in a geographically focused “mango pilot zone” to demonstrate success, de-risk the model, and build investor confidence before scaling up.⁵
Prioritize “Enabling” Public Infrastructure Investment: Direct public and development partner funds toward investments that have the highest leverage on private capital. This includes financing “public good” infrastructure that individual private actors are unlikely to fund alone, such as the rehabilitation of rural feeder roads, the establishment of common-user cold storage and warehousing facilities at key aggregation points, and the extension of the energy grid to designated agro-processing zones.⁵⁷
Strengthen the “Honest Broker” and Regulatory Role: Actively enhance the AGCOT Centre’s capacity to mediate and enforce contract farming agreements, particularly in the sorghum and sunflower sectors. This involves developing standardized contracts, establishing transparent quality grading systems, and creating effective dispute resolution mechanisms to build trust between smallholders and large off-takers and ensure the long-term viability of these crucial partnerships.⁵

For Private Sector Investors

Focus on the Post-Harvest and Value-Addition Gap: The most significant and profitable investment opportunities lie in addressing the corridor’s massive post-harvest deficit. Priority ventures include establishing large-scale mango processing facilities for pulp and juice, building modern and efficient sunflower oil refineries that can compete with imports, and developing modern abattoirs and dairy processing plants.³²
Develop Integrated, Circular Business Models: Seek investment opportunities that capitalize on the powerful synergies between the corridor’s value chains. A prime example would be an integrated enterprise that combines sunflower oil processing with a commercial animal feed operation that utilizes the resulting seed cake to supply a modern poultry or cattle feedlot business. Such models minimize waste, create multiple revenue streams, and build resilience.⁴⁰
Lead in Establishing Robust Out-Grower Schemes: Proactively partner with farmer cooperatives and associations to establish well-structured out-grower schemes. These schemes can secure a reliable and consistent supply of quality raw materials, enable traceability and certification for export markets, and provide a platform for delivering inputs and extension services to smallholders, thereby boosting overall productivity.³

For Development Partners (World Bank, USAID, AGRA, etc.)

De-risk Agricultural Finance at Scale: Expand and deepen financial sector interventions that reduce the perceived risk of lending to agriculture. This includes scaling up loan guarantee facilities, providing dedicated technical assistance to commercial banks and microfinance institutions to build their agri-lending capacity, and funding intensive capacity-building programs for farmer cooperatives to improve their financial management and bankability.³¹
Fund Climate-Smart Agricultural Research and Extension: Provide targeted funding to national research institutions like TARI and SUA to accelerate the development and dissemination of higher-yielding, drought-tolerant, and pest-resistant varieties of sorghum, sunflower, and mangoes specifically adapted to the Central Corridor’s conditions. This funding should be coupled with support for modernizing the agricultural extension system to ensure these innovations reach smallholder farmers effectively.⁴⁷
Invest in Foundational “Soft Infrastructure”: Support the development of the critical systems that underpin a modern agricultural economy. This includes funding the creation of robust market information systems that provide real-time price data, supporting the establishment of independent bodies for quality control and certification (e.g., for organic or GlobalG.A.P. standards), and assisting government efforts in land tenure formalization to provide farmers and investors with the security needed to make long-term investments.³

Section 9: Detailed Overview of Central Corridor Value Chains

This section provides a detailed statistical overview of the diverse agricultural value chains present within Tanzania’s Central Corridor and adjacent zones. It includes historical production data and future projections where available, offering a quantitative snapshot of the corridor’s current agricultural landscape and its growth potential.

Oilseeds & Edible Oils

The oilseed sector is a cornerstone of the Central Corridor’s economy, primarily driven by sunflower production for the domestic edible oil market and a variety of other oil crops with both domestic and export potential.

Value Chain	Geographic Hubs	Key Role & Products	Past Value (Most Recent Data)	Future Projections/Targets
Sunflower 🌻	Dodoma, Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga	Core corridor crop, edible oil & feed cake	503,032 tons produced by smallholders (2019/20) ⁶⁸	Government aims for self-reliance in cooking oil, reducing imports.⁵⁶
Groundnuts	Tabora, Dodoma	Snack, oil, and feed	621,665 tons produced by smallholders (2019/20) ⁶⁸	760,000 tons projected for 2024/25 and 2025/26.⁴³
Sesame	Tabora	Export-oriented oilseed	540,000 tons exported in 2020.⁶⁹	Expected production of not more than 700,000 tons in 2022, with a price target >$1600/tonne.⁶⁹
Cottonseed	Shinyanga, Lake Zone	By-product for oil & feed	Export value of refined oil was $154 in 2022, down from $2,341 in 2015.⁷⁰	Global production of cottonseed oil is projected to be 4.68 million metric tons in 2025/26.⁷¹

Cereals & Staples

Cereals and staple crops are fundamental to food security and local economies across the corridor, with maize being the primary food crop and drought-resilient grains like sorghum gaining industrial importance.

Value Chain	Geographic Hubs	Key Role & Products	Past Value (Most Recent Data)	Future Projections/Targets
Maize 🌽	Corridor-wide	Food security & milling	7 million tons produced (2022/23).⁷²	Production of 7 million tons projected for 2025/26.⁷³
Sorghum & Millet	Singida, Dodoma	Drought-resilient, brewing, food	Sorghum: 821,922 tons (2023/24).⁷⁴ Millet: 282,000 tons (2023/24).⁷⁴	Sorghum: 750,000 tons projected for 2025/26.⁷⁵ Millet: 330,000 tons projected for 2025/26.⁷⁴
Rice/Paddy	Shinyanga, Lake Zone	Local & regional trade	3.48 million tons of paddy (2019/20).⁷⁴	National target of 8.8 million tons by 2030.⁷⁴ 2.51 million metric tons (milled) projected for 2025/26.⁷⁴
Wheat	Dodoma, Singida	Import substitution	National production meets ~10% of 1M ton demand (2021/22).⁵⁶	National demand forecast of 1M tons by 2025/26.⁵⁶ Makete District aims for 200,000 tons by 2026.⁷⁶
Cassava & Potatoes	Kigoma, Mwanza, Lake Zone	Flour, starch, chips, food	Roots & Tubers: 15.7M tons (2023/24).¹⁴ Cassava: 8.9M tons (2023).⁷⁷ Sweet Potato: 1.38M tons (2009).⁷⁸	Cassava production projected to reach 10.2M tons by 2028.⁷⁷

Horticulture & Fruits

The horticulture sector, led by grapes in Dodoma and a variety of fruits and vegetables across the corridor, represents a significant opportunity for value addition and income diversification.

Value Chain	Geographic Hubs	Key Role & Products	Past Value (Most Recent Data)	Future Projections/Targets
Grapes 🍇	Dodoma (Chamwino)	Wine & table grapes	12,000 tons produced in 2013, with annual wine production valued at $70 million.⁷⁹	National wine consumption projected to decline from 2,000 metric tons (2023) to 780 by 2028.⁸⁰
Onions & Tomatoes	Dodoma, Singida	Domestic markets	Tomato output grew 4.4-fold from 1990-2020.⁸¹	Continued growth expected, driven by domestic demand.⁸¹
Bananas & Plantains	Kigoma, Mwanza, Lake Zone	Staple food & local markets	National production is ~4 MMT annually. Kigoma and Mwanza are major growing regions.⁸²	National agribusiness subsector projected to grow by 10% by 2030.⁸³
Vegetables	Peri-urban Dodoma & Mwanza	Supply to urban centers	Vegetable output in Tanzania grew 2.3 times from 1990-2020, driven by domestic demand.⁸¹	Continued growth in small-scale commercial farming is expected.⁸⁴

Industrial & Export Crops

These crops are vital for foreign exchange earnings, with established production zones for cotton and tobacco, and emerging opportunities in coffee and oil palm.

Value Chain	Geographic Hubs	Key Role & Products	Past Value (Most Recent Data)	Future Projections/Targets
Cotton 👕	Shinyanga, Lake Zone	Lint, textiles, seed oil	144,792 tons produced (2023/24).⁸⁵	Target to raise production to over 500,000 tons by 2025.⁸⁶ 400,000 (480-lb bales) projected for 2025/26.⁷³
Tobacco 🚬	Tabora (Urambo, Nzega)	Major cash crop	National export revenue of $400M (2023).⁸⁷ Urambo District earned $50M in 2024/25.⁸⁸	National target of 231 million kg production and ~$668M in revenue by 2025.⁸⁷
Coffee	Kigoma uplands	Export crop	National exports worth $186M (2014).⁸⁹ Contributes 39% of household income in Kigoma.⁹⁰	Stable national production of 30,000-40,000 metric tons annually.⁸⁹
Oil Palm 🌴	Kigoma	Smallholder production	Tanzania imports over 500,000 MT of palm oil annually.⁹¹	FAO-TARI project (2022) aimed to produce 3.5M improved seeds to boost local production.⁹²

Livestock & Animal Products

The livestock sector is integral to the corridor’s economy, providing meat, dairy, and other products, with significant potential for growth and modernization.

Value Chain	Geographic Hubs	Key Role & Products	Past Value (Most Recent Data)	Future Projections/Targets
Beef cattle 🐄	Corridor-wide rangelands	Meat production	National cattle population of 36.6 million (2024).²² Combined meat supply was 803,264 tons (2021/22).⁵⁶	Local production-consumption gap for red meat projected at 1.7 million tons by 2030.⁵⁶
Dairy	Peri-urban Dodoma, Tabora	Milk production	Gross production value of cow milk was $196M in 2016.⁹³	Continued growth driven by rising domestic demand.²²
Poultry	Urban demand centers	Chicken & eggs	National population of 87.7 million chickens (2019/20).⁹⁴	High demand for quality poultry feed and modern processing technology presents growth opportunities.⁹⁵
Hides & Skins	Linked to abattoirs	Leather industry inputs	Exports valued at $4.89 million in 2023.⁹⁶	Global raw hides market projected to grow at 6.6% CAGR, reaching $190.5B by 2035.⁹⁷

Apiculture, Non-Timber Products & Fisheries

These sectors offer diversified income streams, with Tabora being a key hub for honey and the great lakes providing significant fishery resources.

Value Chain	Geographic Hubs	Key Role & Products	Past Value (Most Recent Data)	Future Projections/Targets
Honey & Beeswax 🍯	Tabora, Dodoma, Singida	Export and local markets	Annual production value: Honey €7.96M, Beeswax €1.59M.⁹⁸ Exports were $1.1M in 2023.⁹⁹	High potential for export growth, particularly to the EU market.⁹⁸
Gum & Resins	Smaller scale	Industrial applications	Contributes 14-23% of household income in producing areas.¹⁰⁰	Potential for poverty alleviation and income diversification.¹⁰⁰
Fisheries 🐟	Lake Tanganyika (Kigoma), Lake Victoria (Mwanza)	Local food security, regional trade	30,261 households engaged in fish farming, producing 10,690 tonnes of Tilapia (2019/20).⁹⁴	Growth potential through improved aquaculture practices and sustainable management of lake fisheries.¹⁰¹

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