Value chains & market institutions

The approved budget of the Ministry of Agriculture of Tanzania Mainland, including the National Irrigation Commission and the Cooperative Development Commission, rose from TZS 229.8 billion in 2020/21 to TZS 1,249.0 billion in 2024/25 and TZS 1,193.0 billion in 2025/26, about US$458 million at the Bank of Tanzania end-June 2025 rate of 2,604.6 shillings per dollar, the rate at the start of the fiscal year (own calculation)¹²³⁴. Releases lag allocations. 42.8% of the 2025/26 budget had been released by March 2026³. The Ministry requested TZS 1,106.0 billion for 2026/27³.

A fertiliser subsidy for all crops started on Tanzania Mainland in 2022/23. Farmers register in an electronic system run by the Tanzania Fertilizer Regulatory Authority, and registrations rose from 3.05 million by April 2023 to 5.43 million by March 2026⁵⁶. Subsidised fertiliser reached 674,686 tonnes in 2025/26 by March 2026, when farmers had paid TZS 929.2 billion and the government TZS 281.6 billion of its value⁶. The Ministry reports that fertiliser nutrient use rose from 19 kg per hectare in 2021/22 to 27 kg in 2025/26, against the CAADP target of 50 kg⁶. FAO notes that about 95% of fertiliser requirements are imported⁷.

The Building a Better Tomorrow (BBT) programme, launched in March 2023, aims to bring young people and women into commercial farming through block farms, finance, extension and irrigation⁸⁹. By April 2024 the Ministry had secured 340,465 acres for block farms and trained and allocated land to 268 young people and women, and by March 2026 it had drilled 345 boreholes irrigating 6,052 hectares, against a plan of 500 boreholes for 30,393 hectares⁸¹⁰. The AfDB recorded US$123.6 million of commitments for a BBT youth agribusiness project, of which US$2.1 million had been spent¹¹.

The National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), an executive agency in operation since 1 July 2008, holds the national food reserve and buys grain from farmers through buying centres, agents, farmer groups and forward contracts¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷. In 2024/25 it bought 444,441 tonnes by April 2025, paying on average TZS 700 per kg for maize, and the Ministry reports that the food reserve reached 776,000 tonnes, the same figure that the speech gives for NFRA's storage capacity in 2024/25². In the same year it sold 195,000 tonnes to Zambia, 10,904 tonnes to Malawi and 35,000 tonnes to WFP for US$89.3 million². In 2025/26 it had bought 135,290 tonnes by March 2026 and held 553,077 tonnes¹⁰. The Cereals and Other Produce Board (CPB), established by an Act of 2009, trades and processes cereals, and the Cereals and Other Produce Regulatory Authority (COPRA) regulates the sector¹⁸¹⁹.

An IPC analysis of April 2026 for 30 vulnerable rural districts projected about 507,000 people in severe acute food insecurity between June 2026 and January 2027, 5% of the population analysed⁷. The prevalence of undernourishment was 19.1% in 2024 on FAO estimates published by the World Bank²⁰.

The Warehouse Receipts Act of 2005, amended in 2015 to recognise electronic receipts, created the Warehouse Receipts Regulatory Board, which falls under the Ministry of Industry and Trade²⁵²⁶²⁷. Cash crops such as cashew, sesame, coffee, cocoa and pigeon peas were sold through warehouse receipts and digital auctions in 2025/26. In that season 1.12 billion kg of nine crops worth TZS 2.68 trillion were sold this way, 43.6% more by weight than in 2024/25, and farmers received TZS 2.30 trillion²⁸. The Bank of Tanzania, using TCDC data, reports 566 warehouses and 3.16 million farmers benefiting from the system in 2025²⁹.

The Tanzania Mercantile Exchange (TMX), regulated by the Capital Markets and Securities Authority under the Commodity Exchanges Act of 2015, has operated since 2018³⁰³¹. Its trade rose from TZS 37.7 billion of sesame and TZS 42.5 billion of cashew in 2020 to TZS 535.7 billion and TZS 1,462.3 billion in 2024³². The 2026/27 pigeon pea season opened in Simiyu region at an average of TZS 1,572 per kg over the first four auctions, 21.25% above the previous season³³. The Cooperative Societies Act of 2013 created the Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission to register and supervise them³⁴³⁵.