Samia: Tanzania targets sugar, cooking oil Self-sufficiency

Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced on Friday, June 27, 2025, that the government has authorised the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) to begin procuring and storing sugar during periods of shortage—effectively declaring it a national strategic crop.

“I sincerely thank Members of Parliament for supporting these changes, and I believe we have already started seeing the results,” she said.

The President noted that, alongside NFRA’s new mandate, efforts are underway to boost domestic sugar production through the construction and expansion of processing plants.

These include the Bagamoyo sugar factory, with an installed capacity of 35,000 tonnes; the Mkulazi factory, with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes; and the Kilombero plant, whose expansion will raise its output to 271,000 tonnes.

She added that upgrades at Mtibwa and Kagera Sugar have already increased production by 3,092 tonnes.

“Our goal is to raise total domestic sugar output to 700,000 tonnes,” said President Hassan.

On cooking oil, she noted that oilseed production increased from 1.713 million tonnes in 2021 to 2.181 million tonnes in 2024. However, actual cooking oil output currently stands at 396,335 tonnes.

“Therefore, we are continuing to promote oilseed cultivation as we aim for a 650,000-tonne production target. We also seek to enhance local processing capacity to reduce imports, which put pressure on our foreign reserves,” she said.

The President said the agriculture budget had been significantly increased—rising by more than 300 percent from Sh294 billion in 2021/22 to Sh1.24 trillion in 2025—as part of broader efforts to achieve food self-sufficiency and improve agricultural efficiency.

She added that access to crop seeds had improved, rising by 41.9 percent from 47,700 tonnes in 2021/22 to 72,031 tonnes in 2024/25.

Meanwhile, domestic production of improved seeds rose by 61 percent, from 34,797 tonnes to 56,114 tonnes over the same period.

“We have strengthened the national seed laboratory and enhanced international accreditation standards of the seed control body. This has improved the availability of high-quality seeds and increased farmers’ productivity,” she said.

She also reported that access to fertiliser had improved, with volumes rising from 676,017 tonnes in 2021 to 1.21 million tonnes in 2025—an 80.9 percent increase, compared to the national requirement of 1.5 million tonnes for the 2024/25 season.

“The government provided fertiliser subsidies worth Sh300 billion for all crops. This raised fertiliser usage from 19 kilogrammes per hectare to 24 kilogrammes per hectare in 2025, significantly boosting productivity,” she explained.

Other interventions included strengthening the supply of agricultural inputs and extension services, whereby recruited officers have been provided with soil testing kits, motorbikes, and smartphones.

Turning to commercial crops, President Hassan said that increased production had driven up the country’s export value by 67 percent—from $2.1 billion in 2021 to $3.5 billion in 2024.

“Production of traditional export crops increased from 983,177 tonnes in 2021 to 1.443 million tonnes in 2025. Our goal is to raise the export value to $5 billion by 2030,” she said.

The President also highlighted significant improvements in irrigation infrastructure, which expanded from 561,383 hectares in 2020 to 983,466 hectares in 2024.

This progress was largely attributed to a sharp increase in the number of irrigation projects—from 13 in 2020 to 780 in 2025.

She said the government aims to extend irrigation coverage to 1.2 million hectares upon completion of ongoing projects.