Investing in agribusiness must be given new push

TANZANIA: TANZANIA, just like other nations in the world, is grappling with unemployment among its population, especially its youths who are graduating from various colleges.

In Tanzania, it is to be noted that the population labelled as the working force is highly constrained by a lack of employment and limited income-generating activities which are key in attaining economic freedom, for so many reasons.

A large number of young people are entering the workforce in Africa each year, but there are not enough formal jobs being created to keep up with this influx.

This trend is likely to be exacerbated by the many reasons in Tanzania, particularly, where every year about 900,000 youths enter the job market to compete for less than 100,000 job opportunities.

The challenge necessitated the government to craft strategies to address it before coming up with an affirmative action focusing on attracting youths to engage in agriculture. With a population of over 61 million, agriculture accounts for more than a quarter of Tanzania’s gross domestic product and employs approximately 64 per cent of the country’s workforce.

This means that agriculture can be a reliable sector in absorbing youths who graduate from various colleges, if they will discard the mentality of embracing white collar jobs. We fully understand that the government has prioritised the transformation of the country’s agricultural sector through initiatives like the Building a Better Tomorrow investment programme.

The Building a Better Tomorrow Youth Initiative for Agribusiness project aims at responding to this crisis and it has been marked by structured initial implementation stages and shows promise in achieving its desired goal. The programme emphasises the role of youths and women in building more sustainable food systems that foster resilient livelihoods.

However, programmes like Building a Better Tomorrow require commitments not only from the government, but also from stakeholders across sectors.

As it is known, Tanzania for years, has been boasting her pride of being a food basket, feeding some countries in eastern and southern Africa.

With plenty of arable land that Tanzania is endowed with, youths and other investors are advised to direct their capital in agriculture. What youths and other prospective investors should understand is that the market for their produce is ready- made given the fact Tanzania continues to feed some neighbouring counties.

On top of that, an industrialisation drive that is currently being implemented calls for more and more investment in agriculture for production of raw materials to meet the growing demand that arises due to establishment of industries.