In recent years, the government of Tanzania has prioritized the transformation of the agricultural sector. This approach has been adopted in the 2007 Agricultural Sector Development Program (ASDP) and its successor, the 2016 ASDP II. It has been designed to help meet the objectives set out in a number of existing strategies and policies in the country. Despite accounting for 11% of the African cattle population, livestock-related activities contribute only 7.4% to Tanzania’s GDP and growth at 2.6% is low. This growth largely reflects increases in livestock numbers, rather than productivity gains.
The absence of clear roadmaps to develop the livestock sector has persistently hindered successful implementation of these previous investment plans. Severely constrained by low livestock reproductive rates, high mortality and high disease prevalence, detailed inter-disciplinary analysis revealed the potential benefits of a comprehensive livestock master plan (LMP) for Tanzania.
