Tanzania: Right Move on Unlocking Agro-Industrial Potential

Posted on : Friday, 27th November 2020

In the year 2000, the Tanzania government of the day officially launched the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 with the overreaching development goal of accomplishing a semi-industrialised, middle-income competitive economy by 2025.

 

What with one thing leading to another, successor governments came up with the 2011/12—2015/26 Long-Term Perspective Plan which embodied 5 Year Development Plans (FYDPs).

 

The 1st such quinquennial Development Plan (FYDP I: 2011/12-2015/16) concentrated on “unleashing Tanzania’s economic growth potential.” The 2nd one (FYDP II: 2016/17-2020/21) was about “nurturing an industrial economy”. And the 3rd current Development Plan (FYDP III: 2020/21-2025/26) focuses on a “competitiveness-led export growth”.

 

The 25 year Long-Term Perspective Plan is some kind of a road map for ensuring that the country moves in the direction of realising Tanzania Development Vision 2025 in the decade-and-a-half of implementation that remained.

 

One of the Development Vision goals was to enable the Industrial sector to grow from the current 7.0 % to 8.2 % per year. Thereby increasing the manufacturing sector’s annual contribution to the national Economy from 9.3 % to 18 % by the year 2025.

 

Needless to belabour the point here, the reality on the ground is that, around a decade after the Long-Term Perspective Plan and associated Annual-cum-Quinquennial/Five-Year Development Plans started to be effectuated, the government is still not quite happy with the developmental performance as regards the ambitious but very noble Tanzania Development Vision 2025 goals.