Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan held talks with an African Development Bank delegation led by Vice President Beth Dunford to boost the East African country’s agricultural production and food security.

The meetings covered various development issues, including the Bank’s recognition of Tanzania’s progress in developing its agriculture sector following January’s Dakar 2 Africa Food Summit.

President Hassan was one of many Heads of State and Government who chaired or commissioned Presidential boardrooms during the summit to discuss country food and agriculture delivery compacts centered on African solutions to boost the continent’s food systems.

Tanzania said on the back of the summit, it has tripled its budget for agriculture and is the first country to set up a Presidential Delivery Council to oversee the implementation of its Compact.

The Council, meanwhile, will approve and advise on establishing an enabling environment to deliver on work plans across commodity value chains.

President Hassan thanked the Bank for organizing the Dakar 2 summit, calling the institution a “dependable partner” for assisting Tanzania with its development goals in agriculture and other sectors.

Tanzania’s Food and Agriculture Delivery Compact, like other Dakar 2 country compacts, is rooted in agriculture and cuts across many sectors. These include improving national, regional and international trade; affirming the “bankability” of women who work or own most of Africa’s small and medium agriculture enterprises who face barriers to financing; and, creating decent jobs for youth across Africa’s agricultural value chain.

Increasing Collaboration with Other Development Partners

President Hassan and the Bank agreed to increase collaboration with other development partners to ensure a holistic and integrated approach to the full realization of the Tanzania Food and Agriculture Delivery Compact.

Dunford, Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, commended President Hassan’s “dynamic leadership” and commitment to Tanzania’s agricultural transformation. She said her advancing outcomes of the Dakar 2 Africa Food Summit are delivering impactful results for the people of Tanzania.

Tanzania’s Ministers of Agriculture, Finance, and Livestock and Fisheries participated in the discussions, which also touched on the Bank’s financing of a national initiative to attract more youth into agribusiness.

Known as ‘Tanzania’s Building A Better Tomorrow: Youth Initiative for Agribusiness,’ it focused on empowering youth in the agriculture sector, providing them with skills, including technologies for sustainable and improved livelihoods.

“The Bank will provide young people with climate-smart technology packages for improved production of wheat, horticulture and for oilseed. We will also provide them with access to finance and markets,” said the Bank’s Director for Agriculture and Agro-Industry, Martin Fregene.

The Bank plans to develop a Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone in Tanzania’s southern highlands next year. Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, a Bank flagship initiative, creates economic zones in rural areas to provide one-stop agricultural infrastructure – by concentrating commercial farm production systems, utilities, transport, processing and other services. The zones also build capacity to scale up marketable food products for local and global markets.