Tanzania Agricultural Partnership

The TAP aims to reduce poverty by improving the use of agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilizers throughout the value chain, addressing a range of inter-connected challenges. Reducing rural poverty by delivering appropriate agricultural inputs and improving output markets for Tanzanian farmers are among the objectives of the partnership. TAP has increasingly become a technical focal point and an institutional platform for value chain partnerships.

TAP consists of public institutions, private companies, and national and international organizations coordinated and managed by the Agricultural Council of Tanzania (ACT), the umbrella organization for the agricultural private sector in the country.

TAP aims to blend commercial and developmental goals. The partnership’s success will be determined by both business activities and effective public service delivery. This entails simultaneously improving services, stimulating production and developing agri-business. While the ultimate beneficiary will be the Tanzanian farmer, all the other actors in the value chain must have clear and tangible incentives if the objectives are to be achieved.

The Government of Tanzania is an active partner of TAP. The partnership is well in line with government policies, including the 2009 "Kilimo Kwanza" ("Agriculture First") initiative which underpins the African Green Revolution by increasing public spending on agriculture and targeting small-scale farmers.

The initial focus was on a fertilizer partnership, at the invitation of the Tanzanian government. This concept was first presented at the African Fertilizer Summit in Abuja in June 2006, then at the African Green Revolution Conference in Oslo in September. Access to affordable mineral fertilizer was deemed essential to the development of Tanzania’s agriculture.

The scope of the partnership expanded as it was acknowledged that other inputs were critical, leading to the examination of the broader agricultural supply chain, and ultimately the entire value chain. This concept provides a uniquely holistic approach to the stimulation of production and the reduction of poverty by paying attention to the full length of the value chain – from the port to producer, and back again.

Yara’s involvement in the partnership stems from the very first approach by the Government of Tanzania in 2004, seeking a stable supply of mineral fertilizers for the country’s farmers. The original idea of establishing a strategic buffer stock of fertilizer changed when findings indicated that the real challenge extended beyond the supply of crop nutrients, to the entire value chain connected with the agricultural supply system.

After helping to establish the TAP we have remained active in the partnership, with a special priority given to the distribution of mineral fertilizer, including establishing credit facilities for farmers, and setting up storage for a warehouse receipt system.

Yara maintains a good working relationship with the government, and we were honored to receive President Jakaya Kikwete at our headquarters when he made an official visit to Norway in 2007. At the African Green Revolution Conference hosted by Yara in Oslo in 2006–2008, Tanzania was twice represented by the Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Stephen M. Wassira. In 2010 representatives of Yara, including CEO Jørgen Haslestad who was one of the co-chairs, participated in the World Economic Forum African meeting, held in Dar es Salaam and opened by President Kikwete.

An initial "Fast Track" pilot operation designed to field test TAP concepts and approaches was approved by the partners in August 2006. Five districts in the southern highlands were selected for field implementation from December 2006. The Fast Track worked through existing institutions and used technicians already in the districts. In the field, it brought together a range of district-level public and private sector actors. A series of value chain issue analyses was undertaken on critical links in the chain.

The national roll-out that started in 2008 continues throughout 2011. Covering 25 districts, the roll-out has progressed according to plan. A mid-term review carried out under the auspices of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) in 2009 concluded that TAP is doing well, despite the relatively small number of farmers taking part at the time. A conclusion was that the benefits these farmers earn amply demonstrates the project's value.