Overview

Agricultural sector is the main stay of the Tanzanian economy, currently contributing about 29.1% of the GDP, 65.5% of employment, 65% of raw materials to the industrial sector and 30% of export earnings. The sector development is very crucial in the growth of the national economy and development of industrial sector also important for the provision of adequate food and guarantees nutrition security to the Tanzania population.

On 4th June 2018, The President of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency Dr. John Pombe Magufuli launched the second phase of Agricultural Sector Development Programme (ASDP II) to guide the implementation of four prioritized interventions of the programme which are:

• Sustainable Water and Land use Management, including mainstreaming resilience of sustainable and smart farming systems;
• Enhanced Agricultural Productivity and Profitability by sustainable technology generation, promotion/use, food security and nutrition;
• Commercialization and Value Addition to build competitive Commodity Value Chains (CVCs); and
• Strengthening Agricultural Sector Enablers, including policy framework, institutional capacity and coordination, and sector-wide Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). The ASDP II implementation involves all stakeholders from public, private, development partners, financial institutions and non-state actors under coordination of Prime Minister Office (PMO).

The  Agriculture Sector Development Programme Phase Two (ASDP II) is  therefore,  a ten-years programme  implementable in two phases, each divided into five-years implementation period. The First Phase of five years covers a period from 2018/2019– 2023/2024 and the second phase of another five years will be from2024/2025-2028/2029.  ASDP II is a follow up to the ASDP I implemented from 2006/2007 to 2013/2014. The program has been designed based on the several lessons learnt and experiences drawn from the implementation of ASDP I that:

• The Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) in agriculture is possible when there is sufficient leadership, commitment and well-resourced decentralization of agricultural development planning and implementation;
• Need for improved farmer empowerment and organization;
• Need for program focus and prioritization on high impact areas, which beyond productivity also strengthen upstream levels of targeted value chains;
• Need for good governance, management, coordination, and harmonized monitoring and evaluation of the program;
• Need for improved sector enablers; and
• Need more investments in agricultural sector (the government, private sector and development partners and other stakeholders’ involvement in the agricultural sector.

Therefore, there was a need for harmonization and coordination on how the public sector should facilitate and enhance private sector participation; development partners and other stakeholders’ involvement in the agricultural sector.

The  Preparation of the ASDP II has gone through a comprehensive consultative and stakeholder engagement at all levels,  hence, is a result of the views, comments and wishes of the various stakeholders including private sector, development partners, farmer organizations and non-governmental organizations and the public sector.

Programme (ASDP II) components:

To achieve the Programme Development Objective, the ASDP II has four interlinked Programme components:

• Sustainable Water and Land Use Management-aims at expanding sustainable water and land use management for crops, livestock and fisheries;
• Enhanced Agricultural Productivity and Profitability which focuses on increasing productivity, for some priority commodities;
• Commercialization and Value Addition which focuses on improved and expanded marketing, value addition promoted by a thriving competitive private sector and effective farmer organizations; and
• Sector Enablers, Coordination and Monitoring & Evaluation aiming at strengthening institutions, creating enabling conditions and providing coordination framework.

Programme Beneficiaries

The targeted beneficiaries of ASDP II comprise both direct and indirect. Direct beneficiaries include smallholder crop, livestock and fish farmers/fisher folk and their organizations and agribusiness stakeholders (value adding and marketing) that form joint ventures in selected value chains, with special attention to women and youth engaged in the targeted priority Commodity Value Chains (CVCs). Indirect beneficiaries include labourers and consumers from smallholder farm households not directly supported by the project, input suppliers, traders, transporters, processors and consumers. The expected benefits from the programme include increased and sustainable productivity, production of food and non-food agricultural commodities to improve Tanzanians livelihoods, ensuring national level food security, and provide raw materials for the industrial sector. Such anticipated benefits of the programme are assumed to be achieved through efficient programme coordination and implementation of its activities.