TADB targets women, smallholders in climate financing

DAR ES SALAAM: Tanzania’s Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) on Tuesday launched a green financing strategy aimed at expanding climate-smart lending for women and smallholder farmers facing growing climate risks.

The 2025-2027 Green Agri-Finance Strategy seeks to improve access to financing for climate-resilient agriculture, irrigation, storage and value-addition projects across the farming sector.

TADB Board Member, Prudence Masako said women farmers remained among the groups most vulnerable to erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and declining soil fertility.

Speaking during the launch in Dar es Salaam, Masako cited projects in Tanzania’s Iringa region where women farmers used village savings groups to invest in tree nurseries, beekeeping and irrigation systems to sustain production during dry seasons.

“The evidence is now clear. When a woman is a member of a savings group and is empowered to decide how households invest, adoption of climate practices rises significantly,” she said.

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Masako said small community loans often helped farmers start climate-resilient projects but remained insufficient for larger investments such as solar irrigation pumps, cold storage facilities and aggregation centres.

She said TADB’s strategy aimed to bridge that financing gap by supporting the full agricultural value chain, from village savings groups and cooperatives to processors and commercial agribusinesses.

The strategy was developed with support from development partners including Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the African Development Bank and IFAD.