DODOMA · INTERNATIONAL NANE NANE · 1 AUGUST 2026

Dodoma, 1 August 2026 — Prime Minister Dr Mwigulu Nchemba’s official opening of the 2026 International Nane Nane exhibition at the Dr. John Samuel Malecela Grounds in Nzuguni, Dodoma, ran across several hours and dozens of exhibitor stands — from bank financing figures and regional investment showcases through to government institutional services and field demonstration plots. This account follows that tour stop by stop, covering ground beyond the poultry-strategy launch and stakeholder panel already reported separately from the same day.

The Prime Minister was accompanied throughout by Dodoma Regional Commissioner Rosemary S. Senyamule, Agriculture Minister Daniel Chongolo, and a wider delegation of regional and district officials, before the exhibition’s ceremonial opening.

Banking: from NMB’s “friendly” lending to TADB’s decade of disbursement

At NMB’s stand, the Prime Minister praised the bank for keeping loan documentation short and accessible — contrasting this directly with predatory informal lenders, colloquially called “kausha damu” (“blood-drying” loans), which he argued exploit people under financial stress by appearing more convenient than a bank despite carrying far worse terms. He said he had consistently pushed banks to keep borrowing “friendly” regardless of loan size specifically to steer Tanzanians away from such lenders, and linked the point to President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s financial inclusion agenda and the government’s push toward a “cash-light” economy, in which digital financial access reduces reliance on carrying physical cash.

At the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) stand — this year’s headline exhibition sponsor — bank leadership presented a decade-long lending summary: since 2015, TADB has disbursed loans worth approximately TZS 1.32 trillion across 286 projects, reaching an estimated 600,000 beneficiaries. The bank broke this down by purpose (processing and factories, roughly TZS 34 billion; cold-storage facilities, roughly TZS 3.8 billion; warehousing, roughly TZS 43 billion; irrigation infrastructure, roughly TZS 14 billion; mechanisation and tractors; livestock including cattle and poultry, roughly TZS 21 billion; and dedicated women’s and youth lending and asset financing) and by crop (coffee, roughly TZS 437 billion; rice, roughly TZS 256 billion; cotton, roughly TZS 195 billion; maize, roughly TZS 105 billion; sugar, roughly TZS 75 billion; cashew, roughly TZS 65 billion; poultry farming, roughly TZS 50 billion; dairy processing, roughly TZS 40 billion; and sunflower, roughly TZS 37 billion) — figures given verbally during the tour and worth confirming against TADB’s own published reporting before being treated as final.

Bank leadership highlighted that roughly 85 percent of this cumulative lending was disbursed under the current, sixth-phase government, framing it as evidence of sustained political commitment to agricultural finance — citing a sequence of capital injections since 2021: an initial TZS 208 billion (against a prior base capital of TZS 60 billion), a further TZS 210 billion secured in France in 2022, TZS 174 billion in 2024, and TZS 351 billion from Japan’s JICA in 2025. As a flagship example, the bank presented Tanlapia, a Bagamoyo-based aquaculture operation using an “In-Pond Raceway System” (IPRS) adapted from Egypt — described as the first and largest such system in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tanlapia’s production manager, Farida Guyama Buzahela, told the Prime Minister the company’s output grew from roughly 8 tonnes of fish per month before TADB financing to 75–90 tonnes per month currently, with a target of 300 tonnes per month, and that the project had won an international award recognising it as a transformational agricultural investment in Africa.

Responding, the Prime Minister praised the disbursement record as a direct contributor to private-sector credit growth, then set out three priorities for the bank and ministries going forward. First, he pressed for greater lending focus on edible oil processing — noting Tanzania still spends heavily on imported cooking oil annually — drawing a direct comparison to the country’s earlier success substituting sugar imports, and asked the Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock and Finance to work with TADB specifically on this gap. Second, he raised a longer-term financing philosophy: that as input subsidies become harder to sustain broadly and risk becoming selectively targeted, adequately capitalised specialised banks like TADB and TIB should instead provide open, non-selective access to credit for anyone wanting to invest in production, processing or inputs — arguing capital-based finance scales more sustainably than budget-constrained subsidy programmes. Third, he proposed a specific mechanism connecting local government revenue to warehouse infrastructure: using land-rent retention funds channelled to local government authorities (TAMISEMI) to build warehouses in partnership with TADB financing, with loan repayments funded by storage fees collected from farmers — addressing what he described as a common gap where farmers support the warehouse receipt system in principle but lack a nearby, accessible warehouse to use it.

Regional pavilions: Dodoma’s agricultural transformation

At the Dodoma regional pavilion, RC Senyamule told the Prime Minister that 72 percent of the region’s population depends on agriculture, and that Dodoma — long perceived as an arid region — has been transformed through dam and borehole investment under President Samia’s administration; a 2023 assessment found agriculture now contributes 39 percent of the region’s GDP. She named the region’s strategic crops in order: sorghum, which tolerates Dodoma’s variable conditions; sunflower, aligned with the national push for edible-oil self-sufficiency; grapes, the region’s signature crop; and maize as a general staple, alongside a newer horticultural addition aimed at import substitution for fruit previously purchased from abroad.

She recalled a 2023 grape market crisis that pushed the region to expand local wine and juice processing capacity — growing from two major wineries to 39 wine-processing factories region-wide, now competing for grape supply in a way that has improved farm-gate prices. She also cited a locally developed “super rice” variety grown in the region, and noted that despite existing sunflower oil processing capacity, demand still outstrips supply, sustaining continued government promotion of irrigation to enable two or three harvests per year. Dodoma city itself, she said, has been designated an agricultural district focused specifically on horticulture — vegetables and fruit — serving both local hotel demand and export ambitions: the region has reached an agreement with Czech partners to build a warehouse at Ostrava Airport enabling direct horticultural exports from Dodoma, and plans to begin construction this year on a collection, sorting and packaging centre for export-grade produce. She additionally cited confirmed demand from South Korea for Dodoma-grown sesame, with work under way to scale black and white sesame seed distribution to farmers to meet it.

The Dodoma delegation separately made the case for apples as an emerging strategic crop, citing agronomic trial results: a single apple tree can produce up to 200 fruits per season, with roughly 450 trees per acre; at a conservative farm-gate price of TZS 500 per fruit, a single tree could generate roughly TZS 100,000 per season, and a full acre roughly TZS 45 million — framed explicitly as a poverty-reduction opportunity for the region as Tanzania works toward its Vision 2050 middle-income target. Officials also promoted Dodoma’s emerging identity as a grape-tourism destination, arguing the crop does not grow at comparable scale anywhere else in Tanzania.

At the pavilion of Zuchu Wine, a Dodoma-based winery processing locally grown grapes, representatives described sourcing from 250–300 farmers per season (the company’s stated annual processing capacity, given verbally during the visit, was difficult to reconcile with typical facility scale and should be confirmed directly with the company rather than treated as precise).

Singida: sunflower, minerals and a flagship private investment

At the Singida regional pavilion — introduced by Regional Commissioner Halima Dendego — officials cited the region’s sunflower oil production potential at roughly 286,000 tonnes annually, against current output well below that figure — framing the gap as a significant open investment opportunity, alongside Tanzania’s broader national dependence on imported edible oil. They also cited a sharp rise in regional mining revenue, from roughly TZS 48.3 million in 2017/18 to roughly TZS 35 billion in the most recent year, and pointed to more than TZS 100 billion in ongoing irrigation investment supporting the region’s onion production in particular.

As a flagship example of investment climate, officials from Iramba district (via district agriculture, livestock and fisheries department head Isam Mkwede) showcased Meru Agro, a private investor allocated 13 acres for sunflower and maize seed production plus a further 7 acres provided free by the district for a roughly TZS 10 billion seed-processing factory — already employing or expected to employ around 1,500 people, with combined field and factory investment cited at roughly TZS 30 billion. Officials also referenced other large sunflower-processing investors in the region with facilities valued in the tens of billions of shillings, offered as further evidence of Singida’s investment climate under the current administration.

At the Iramba district pavilion specifically, officials highlighted the district’s leadership in indigenous sunflower oil and seed production, alongside efforts to support youth and women’s groups establishing small-scale oil-processing and packaging enterprises aimed at both domestic and export markets. The delegation presented the Prime Minister with a locally produced seed-based product marketed for use in porridge or hot beverages.

Government institutions: TAMISEMI, TPHPA, extension services, and TAFIKO

At the Prime Minister’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (TAMISEMI) pavilion, officials outlined the office’s structure — six departments, 11 divisions, and six subordinate institutions, including the Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency (TARURA), the Local Government Loans Board, the Teachers Service Commission, a local government training college, and the Kariakoo Market Corporation — and described the office’s role in publicising the 10 percent affirmative loan allocation set aside for women, youth and persons with disabilities from local government revenue. The Prime Minister asked the Deputy Minister to convene a follow-up meeting with the Ministries of Agriculture and Livestock to identify further efficiencies within TAMISEMI’s own remit.

At the Tanzania Plant Health and Pesticides Authority (TPHPA) pavilion, officials described the authority’s mandate spanning market-access facilitation for exporters (through phytosanitary certification) and pest and disease control. They demonstrated rapid DNA-testing equipment capable of diagnosing a plant pathogen — identifying whether a crop disease is caused by a fungus, virus or bacteria, and its specific strain — within roughly 20 minutes in the field, enabling faster, more targeted pesticide response. TPHPA also described maintaining a national gene bank preserving roughly 10,000 indigenous seed varieties sourced from across the country, several of which had been at risk of disappearing, alongside its role providing pesticide-safety training and testing imported pesticide quality using laboratory equipment at its headquarters and zonal offices.

The Prime Minister also visited the pavilion of Tanzania’s newly established Agricultural Extension Services Agency, created under the Ministry of Agriculture specifically to strengthen nationwide extension delivery, and the Tanzania Fisheries Corporation (TAFIKO) pavilion, where officials described government investment in modern deep-sea fishing vessels and a planned dedicated fishing port intended to enable offloading, cold storage and transport infrastructure for deep-sea catches. TAFIKO currently operates one deep-sea vessel, with two further vessels in procurement and additional vessels planned, as part of a wider push — done in partnership with the private sector — to enable Tanzania to fish within its own Exclusive Economic Zone, an area officials said remains largely unexploited by domestic capacity today.

Field demonstrations: apples, coffee and grapes in Tanzania’s semi-arid centre

The tour’s final stretch moved to field demonstration plots, where the Prime Minister — joking that sceptics who doubted certain crops could grow in Dodoma’s semi-arid climate had now been proven wrong “in practice” — viewed maize plots in full growth alongside a dedicated apple orchard. Orchard managers explained the planting uses cross-pollinating varieties planted together deliberately for better fruit-set, planted in June 2025; standard horticultural practice restricts full fruiting in an orchard’s first two years, so the current, modest yield does not reflect the variety’s real production potential, which managers said would be visible from the following year. They attributed the fruit’s naturally high sugar content to Dodoma’s climate and soil, grown without chemical fertiliser beyond manure and standard pest-control spraying, and estimated the substitution effect at roughly TZS 14 million (the specific basis for this figure was not fully clear on the recording and is worth confirming directly).

At TARI’s Dodoma zonal research centre, Director General Dr. Thomas Bwana personally guided the Prime Minister through the institute’s grape, apple and coffee trial plots. On grapes, he distinguished wine varieties — including the long-established “Makutupora Red,” used across all of Dodoma’s wineries, and a newer “TZ” variety still being trialled as a potential future competitor — from table (eating) grape varieties, including one sourced from South Africa under trial, noting that confusion between the two categories is common locally, with wine grapes frequently eaten directly despite being bred for processing. On apples, TARI displayed 11 varieties under simultaneous trial to identify the best performers for wider regional distribution. On coffee, the institute showcased new hybrid varieties reaching maturity and fruiting within 18 months — markedly faster than conventional coffee — with yields cited at up to 3 tonnes per hectare, and confirmed the Coffee Board provides free seedlings to farmers, partly framed as a climate-resilient crop supporting environmental conservation in the region.

A final stop: fertiliser manufacturing at Intracom

The tour’s last stop was Intracom, a foliar and soil fertiliser manufacturing plant built at Nala, Dodoma’s designated industrial zone, through joint Tanzanian and Burundian government backing, employing several hundred Tanzanian workers. Plant representatives demonstrated concentrated fertiliser formulations — a small quantity treating a larger area than conventional products — suited to the range of crops grown across Tanzania. The Prime Minister used the visit to underline the strategic value of domestic fertiliser production against the volatility of international fertiliser markets, and reaffirmed government’s commitment to continue improving the investment environment to expand domestic production capacity.

What this means going forward

Across financing figures, regional investment showcases, institutional mandates and field demonstrations, the Prime Minister’s opening-day tour offered a working cross-section of what Tanzania’s central regions are betting on for Vision 2050: expanded, non-selective agricultural credit; regional crop diversification into higher-value horticulture, viticulture and even temperate fruit; stronger phytosanitary and extension infrastructure; and continued import substitution in edible oils and fertiliser. Several of the specific figures cited verbally during the tour — TADB’s category-by-category lending breakdown, some regional investment values, and a few processing-capacity claims — were difficult to fully verify from the recording alone and are flagged accordingly; readers seeking precise figures should consult TADB, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the relevant regional administrations directly.

Reporting based on the livestream “LIVE: Uzinduzi Rasmi – Maonesho ya Nane Nane 2026 | Na Waziri Mkuu Dkt. Mwigulu Nchemba | Day 1,” recorded 1 August 2026 at the Dr. John Samuel Malecela Grounds, Nzuguni, Dodoma, corroborated by Tanzanian government and press coverage of the same day’s exhibition opening. Watch: https://youtube.com/live/pbJIa5ys_WE