Josephine Christopher is a senior business journalist for The Citizen and Mwananchi newspapers
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The AfDB’s senior corporate loan forms part of a $74.7 million expansion programme designed to modernise MeTL’s tea, sisal and macadamia operations.
Dar es Salaam. Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited (MeTL) has secured $24.6 million in funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB), giving fresh momentum to Mo Dewji’s renewed push to overhaul the conglomerate’s agricultural portfolio after months of political pressure over underperforming tea estates.
The AfDB’s senior corporate loan forms part of a $74.7 million expansion programme designed to modernise MeTL’s tea, sisal and macadamia operations.
The investment—approved this week—is the company’s most ambitious agricultural reset in years and follows heightened government scrutiny that placed some of MeTL’s farms at risk of repossession.
AfDB said in a statement that the project will rehabilitate old tea estates, convert more than 1,000 hectares into organic plantations, and upgrade processing factories with the aim of doubling production capacity.
AfDB chief investment officer and project team leader, Mr Charles Orwothwun, said: “This partnership is about transforming potential into prosperity. By combining innovation, sustainability and inclusion, we are helping Tanzania build a more resilient agricultural future that works for its people and the planet.”
Under the investment plan, MeTL will also establish at least 15,000 hectares of new sisal plantations and develop a 200-hectare macadamia farm.
The initiative includes improvements to rural infrastructure, deployment of modern machinery and strengthened value chains linking smallholder farmers to regional and global markets.
According to AfDB estimates, the investment is expected to generate more than 1,400 new jobs—mostly for women and youth—earn over $10 million annually in additional export revenue, and contribute around $36 million in fiscal revenues.
“This investment will be a game changer for Tanzania’s agricultural transformation by combining industrial efficiency with inclusive growth, empowering rural women and youth while building climate resilience,” Mr Orwothwun added.
During the 2025 presidential campaign, President Samia Suluhu Hassan issued a stern warning to agribusiness operators, singling out MeTL and Wakulima Tea Company for failing to develop estates allocated to them, despite what she described as a “conducive” policy and infrastructure environment.
“It seems they have failed to do their part,” President Hassan said while addressing a rally in Rungwe District in September, announcing the formation of a special task force to review underutilised tea plantations and factories.
She indicated that repossessing idle farms and transferring them to state-backed cooperatives remained a viable option—a reminder of the government’s 2020 decision to revoke MeTL’s titles to six idle farms in Tanga Region for non-development.
Against that backdrop, MeTL’s new capital injection appears aimed at demonstrating alignment with national agricultural goals, safeguarding its land portfolio and proving that it can remain a credible partner in rural transformation.
According to MeTL’s website, the group owns three tea estates across two regions, with 2,350 hectares of planted tea and 1,200 hectares under contract farming with smallholder growers.
The company exports about 95 percent of its output directly or through the Mombasa Auction in Kenya, with the remainder sold to local blenders.
MeTL operates three new tea factories equipped with five CTC processing lines and one orthodox line, with a combined capacity of 250,000 kilogrammes of green leaf per day. The factories are located at Arc Mountain and Dindira in Korogwe District and Chivanjee in Rungwe District.
