Tanzania pushes TADB toward export-focused lending

DODOMA: Tanzania’s finance minister has urged the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) to redirect more of its lending toward higher-value food and cash crops aimed at international markets, as the government seeks stronger export earnings from agriculture.

Finance Minister Khamis Mussa Omar made the call during a meeting with senior management of the state-owned lender in Dodoma, where the bank presented its financial performance and medium-term strategy for 2025–2030, officials said.

Omar said the bank should prioritise financing that supports value addition in agriculture, livestock and fisheries, including agro-processing industries, and expand support for sectors such as forestry and beekeeping, which he said remain underdeveloped.

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TADB said its balance sheet had grown to 1.3 trillion Tanzanian shillings ($510 million) in 2025, up from 362.8 billion shillings in 2021, and that total lending since its establishment in 2015 had exceeded 1.3 trillion shillings, reaching farmers, livestock keepers and fishers across the country.

Chief Executive Frank Nyabundege said the bank was seeking additional capital from the government and guarantees that would allow it to borrow from international lenders, as Tanzania looks to scale financing for agriculture, a sector that employs the majority of its population.