By Elsie Sia Kanza
American investors looking for growth with a solid return should look closely at Tanzanian agriculture.
The sector’s exports rose from $2.1 billion in 2021/22 to $3.7 billion in 2024/25, an increase of more than 75 percent in just three years.
Tanzania produces roughly 30 percent more food than it consumes. The government has more than quadrupled its agriculture budget. And only about a quarter of the country’s arable land is under cultivation.
For companies that supply equipment, build processing plants, move crops to market or finance the businesses that do, these trends point to a market with room to grow and strong prospects for profitable investment.
The opportunity lies largely beyond the farm gate. Production has outpaced the storage, processing, transport and financing needed to turn harvests into higher value products. Each of these gaps is a business opportunity. Investors who build capacity early stand to capture the value that rising output will generate in the years ahead.
At the recent Borlaug Dialogue in Iowa, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba invited American investors to help build on Tanzania’s gains.
The Ministry of Agriculture’s budget grew from 294 billion Tanzanian shillings in 2021/22 to 1.241 trillion shillings in 2025/26. Tanzania Development Vision 2050 and the Agriculture Master Plan 2050 set out a long-term framework for growth.
Public spending on rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, which bring practical advice to farmers, lowers costs and reduces risk for private businesses operating in the sector.
Private capital can build the processing, distribution and service businesses that public spending alone cannot finance.
The scale of the sector supports that investment. Agriculture accounts for about 24.6 percent of Tanzania’s gross domestic product and employs roughly 65 percent of its labor force.
Farmers also supply a substantial share of the raw materials used by Tanzanian industry. About 10.8 million hectares are cultivated out of 44 million hectares of arable land, which leaves considerable opportunity to expand production.
Investors also gain access to markets well beyond Tanzania’s borders. The country’s position in East and Southern Africa connects businesses to customers in the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community with wider opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
A processing plant or distribution network built in Tanzania can serve a growing domestic market and a much larger regional one.
Such investment would also help Tanzania supply food to countries across East, Central and Southern Africa facing persistent food insecurity.
Tanzania already has transport infrastructure to support this investment and serve these markets: the ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara, the electrified Standard Gauge railway, the TAZARA railway, Air Tanzania and an extensive network of paved roads.
American manufacturers of agricultural machinery and irrigation equipment have a clear opening. Better irrigation and appropriate machinery help farmers raise yields and harvest more efficiently.
Demand will grow as farms and enterprises expand. Equipment sales generate continuing revenue from spare parts, maintenance and training.
Developing those services with local partners keeps machinery running for Tanzanian customers and gives American suppliers relationships that extend well beyond the initial purchase.
Food processors and logistics companies can build operations around what Tanzania already grows.
Facilities that mill cereals, process oilseeds or prepare horticultural produce for sale connect local production with buyers’ requirements.
American companies bring experience in operating these facilities, managing distribution and reaching customers. Partnerships with Tanzanian producers combine that expertise with local knowledge and supply relationships.
Machinery service providers can work with many smaller producers who could not afford to own equipment individually.
Storage and processing operators can source crops from several farms, assembling the volumes larger buyers require. These models give farmers better access to services and markets.
Finance will determine how many of these opportunities become operating businesses. Farmers need working capital for inputs.
Processors and storage operators need longer term investment in equipment and facilities.
American lenders and investors can find openings across the agricultural economy, including enterprises that serve smaller producers.
American agricultural technology companies and research institutions also have a role. Improved crop varieties, agricultural data and digital advisory services help producers make better decisions and use inputs more effectively.
Products that reach farmers in affordable, practical forms, supported by training and adapted through local partnerships, can build a large customer base.
USAID recognized this potential when it selected Tanzania for its Feed the Future Accelerator program to expand private sector participation in agriculture.
Although the agency has since closed, American companies can pursue those opportunities through partnerships with Tanzanian producers.
Tanzania’s agricultural growth is already underway. The question for American investors is whether they will help shape its next stage and share in the returns.
The Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania in Washington, D.C. welcomes discussions with companies interested in supplying equipment and technology, developing processing and distribution operations, or financing agricultural enterprises.
The goal is commercial partnerships that give American firms new business and Tanzanian producers more ways to earn from what they grow.