Yara creates new opportunities for Tanzanian farmers

The new terminal facility allows for an annual import of 350,000 tons of fertilizer, positioning Dar es Salaam and Yara’s terminal as a major fertilizer import hub for Tanzania and the surrounding region.

“This is an important day for our two friendly nations, we are witnesses of our relationship turning the page, my plea for promoting trade and investments is being demonstrated in the most practical sense you can ever see it, or in the strongest practical terms possible,” said HE President Jakaya Kikwete in his opening speech at the inauguration ceremony.

Yara has been in Tanzania for the past nine years, ensuring that farmers have fertilizers, access to crop nutrition programs, and access to technology that increase yields, improve product quality and reduce the environmental impact of agricultural practices. “This investment strengthens Yara’s long-term commitment to the development of Tanzania’s agricultural sector,” President Kikwete said in his speech.

It is estimated that 80 per cent of the people in Sub-Saharan Africa depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Investments are needed to scale up infrastructure, make inputs like fertilizer available, and to empower all of Africa’s farmers to participate and improve their yields.

“Tanzania has available farmland, a young and growing population and favorable climate. This is a great starting point for increasing agricultural production,” said Yara President and CEO Svein Tore Holsether, at the opening ceremony of the new fertilizer terminal. “The opening of this terminal signals a turning point in Yara’s capacity to support growth in the Tanzanian agricultural sector,” he said.

The investment is the first on-the-ground infrastructure project within the framework of the “Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania” (SAGCOT), a public-private partnership which aims to transform smallholder agriculture into a sustainable commercial farming sector.

Yara has partnered with 58 other organizations in Tanzania alone - NGOs, government and agribusiness companies - to transfer knowledge and make quality fertilizer more accessible. To support these efforts, Yara has strategically placed warehouses across seven regions, enabling distributors to access product more quickly and with less financial risk.

Through our team of 24 agronomists, Yara also supports distributors and retailers to share agronomic advice with farmers. By increasing knowledge about crop nutrition, farmers can improve the application of fertilizers and thereby achieve much higher yields in a sustainable manner.