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World Bank approves 70 mln USD to support Tanzania's agriculture

Xinhua, March 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors on Thursday approved 70 million U.S. dollars to support Tanzania's agriculture sector, the bank said in a statement on Friday.

The statement said the funding will be used to strengthen the agriculture sector by linking smallholder farmers to agribusinesses to boost incomes and job-led growth.

As part of its national development strategy, the government of Tanzania is currently implementing the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Program which seeks to promote agribusiness partnerships to tackle low farm productivity and limited market access that are impeding the country's agricultural development.

The newly-approved SAGCOT investment project is financed by the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) and aims to develop income opportunities for 100,000 smallholder farming households by providing them new technologies and marketing practices, said the statement.

"Once implemented, the project will directly benefit over half a million people and engage 40 agribusiness operators, with emphasis on women in successful commercial value chains," said the statement.

"Smallholder farmers play a central role in Tanzania's agricultural sector" said Bella Bird, World Bank Country Director for Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi and Somalia.

"Tanzania has achieved demonstrable successes in boosting productivity in the horticulture, rice, sugar and tea sectors," said Mark Cackler, World Bank's Manager for the Agriculture Global Practice.

Cackler added the challenge is to extend the reach of existing efforts and expand poor farmers' access to lucrative market opportunities.

Over 80 percent of the poor and extreme poor in Tanzania live in the rural areas with limited opportunities to establish links with productive value chains and higher value crops.

As a result, Tanzania's otherwise remarkable economic growth rate of 7 percent over the past decade has left behind most of the poor in rural areas. Enditem