Agricultural Sector Development Strategy ASDS

Agricultural Sector is the leading sector of the economy of Tanzania and accounts for over half of the GDP and export earnings. Over 80% of the poor are in rural areas and their livelihood depends on agriculture. Moreover, about 80% of the population live and earn their living in rural areas with agriculture as the mainstay of their living.

The agricultural sector has maintained a steady growth rate of over 3 percent per annum over the last decade. Although this is greater than the growth rate of the population, this rate is considered to be unsatisfactory because it has failed to improve the livelihood of the rural people whose major occupation is agriculture. This includes localized food insecurity and hunger that continues to be influenced by lack of access to and inadequate resources endowments at the households level. The Strategy is a step forward towards laying the foundation for the ways to develop the agricultural sector, hence the national economy at large as well as poverty reduction especially in the rural areas.

The primary objective of the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) is to create an enabling and conducive environment for improving profitability of the sector as the basis for improved farm incomes and rural poverty reduction in the medium and long-term.