The government of Norway has pledged $15 million as a commitment to supporting Tanzania’s agricultural sector through new strategic partnerships.

This comes after Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE), the Agriculture Transformation Office (ATO), and AGRA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance agricultural development in the country. 

This agreement aims to support ATO in implementing Flagship 7 (Agricultural Masters Plan), which focuses on creating an enabling environment for replicating the SAGCOT model in three additional Agricultural Growth Corridors, namely Mtwara, Central and Northern Corridors. 

During the ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, David Silinde, officially launched RNE’s support to the SAGCOT Centre, the institution mandated by President Samia Suluhu Hassan to lead the replication of SAGCOT’s lessons to other agricultural corridors across Tanzania. 

The funding from RNE will enable the SAGCOT Centre to deepen its interventions within the SAGCOT Corridor while also advancing the Agricultural Growth Corridors of Tanzania (AGCOT) initiative.

This initiative is aligned with President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s 2023 directive to the SAGCOT Centre CEO, emphasizing the importance of expanding the SAGCOT model nationwide. 

The President issued the directive to the SAGCOT CEO as a member of Tanzania's Presidential Advisory Council for Food and Agriculture.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, David Silinde commended the collaboration, highlighting Tanzania’s achievement of 128 percent food self-sufficiency in the 2023–2024 fiscal year. 

However, he emphasized that further efforts are needed to strengthen the sector. 

The newly launched initiatives will focus on removing regulatory barriers, attracting private investment, and scaling up the AGCOT model to drive sustainable agricultural transformation in Tanzania.

"Tanzania is committed to transforming agriculture to ensure food security, reduce poverty, and drive economic growth," said Silinde. 

"With Norway's support, these projects will play a key role in achieving our goals."

The deputy minister added that the partnership drives food security, poverty reduction, and inclusive growth.

 “Together, we’re unlocking agriculture’s potential to create jobs and uplift communities,” said Tone Tinnes, Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania.

“Our geographical position can make Tanzania a gateway into Africa and open us up to one of the dynamic growth areas of the world,” said Geoffrey Kirenga, Chief Executive Officer, SAGCOT.

The Program for the Development of Agriculture in the Southern Region of Tanzania ("SAGCOT") is a Partnership Program between the Government and the private sector that was launched during the World Economic Forum - Africa (World Economic Forum - Africa) held in Dar-es-Salaam in 2010.

 Its implementation takes a period of 20 years until 2030 with the main goal is to increase production productivity in agriculture, strengthen food security, reduce poverty and ensure sustainable conservation of the environment through commercial formalization for small farmers.

Its vision is to transform Tanzania’s agriculture sector in a manner that agro-industries are inclusive of small and medium.