Success as Sagcot initiative expands

 The government plans to roll out the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (Sagcot) initiative countrywide to ensure agriculture plays a pivotal role in the country’s industrialisation process, a senior government official has said.

Before as its name suggests, Sagcot, which brings together the government, the private sector and international donors to boost agricultural growth, was limited to Tanzania’s southern highlands.

However, the government has realised that the initiative can be applied also to other parts of the country. “Basically, much of what is contained in the agricultural sector development programme 2 (ASDP 2) has been adopted from Saggot. We have realised that this is the best way to develop agriculture, which is directly linked to industrialisation,” said the director of training in the ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr Yongolo Said. Mr Said, who represented the ministry’s permanent secretary, was speaking during a networking dinner that brought together senior government officials from all ministries, departments and agencies that work closely with the Saggot Centre in Dodoma on Friday evening.

He said implementation of ASDP 2 was scheduled to start in 2017/18 and it had been budgeted for the ministries of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Industry, Trade and Marketing and the ministry of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government Authorities). Speaking during the event, Sagcot Centre chief executive officer Geoffrey Kirenga said during the past seven years of implementing the first phase of ASDP – from which the Sagcot initiative was born – Tanzania managed to remain a relatively hunger-free nation. “Much as there have been some challenges, this is quite unusual to most African countries. So, there have great strides to be proud of,” he noted.

“Sagcot seeks to mobilise $3.5 billion of investments in agriculture by 2030,” he said, noting that so far, $566 million had been invested in various projects.

“This has helped 16,384 farmers to turn into commercial farmers. At least 38,477 hectares have been cultivated, yielding $50 million in annual farming revenue,” he said.