Tanzania's Ministry Announces Grant for Youth, Women in Agriculture
As part of its Building a Better Tomorrow: Youth Initiative for Agribusiness (BBT-YIA) programme, the Ministry of Agriculture has announced a call for grant and soft loan applications from young people and women engaged in agricultural pursuits.
The BBT-YIA booklet states that the programme will train 200,000 youths, involve 20,000 youths in internship programmes, and mentor and coach 15,000 youth-led agribusinesses through incubation programmes, all to achieve 12,000 profitable enterprises in 12,000 villages in Tanzania over the course of eight years.
According to a call note posted on the ministry's website, this funding initiative will come from the Agricultural Input Trust Fund (AGITF). These funding opportunities will be accepting applications from January 15th, 2023 through April 30th, 2023.
Access to land, capital, technology, and markets are just some of the issues that the BBT programme seeks to address on behalf of young people and women working in agriculture.
The initiative will support the development of a sustainable and successful agribusiness sector by providing grants and soft loans to young people and women working in commercial crop value chains.
The callout specifies that "applicants must be a Tanzanian youth aged 18-40 years and have experience in agricultural activities" to be considered for the programme.
In addition, at the time of application, they must be working on agricultural land that they own, inherit, or rent (with specific conditions for those who are renting).
The government of Tanzania is using the BBT programme to help young people and women in the agriculture sector overcome the difficulties they face.
Youth entrepreneurs whose businesses are already up and running, youth entrepreneurs whose businesses are in the planning stages, youth trained to work in existing agricultural businesses, and youth who have no interest in agriculture will make up the pool of selected beneficiaries.
The Ministry of Agriculture will play the role of facilitator and coordinator for the BBT-YIA programme, which will be funded through a combination of public funds, development partners, non-governmental organisations, and the private sector.
About half of Tanzania's 16 million young people are between the ages of 15 and 24, and another 46.6 per cent are between the ages of 25 and 34 and working in agriculture.
Eight per cent of young adults (15–24) and sixteen per cent of young adults (25–34) in the course find work in non-farm agri-food systems.
About 19 per cent and 31.5 per cent of young people aged 15–24 and 25–34 are employed in non-farming and non-agricultural food systems.
Meanwhile, the ministry has extended an invitation to both domestic and international investors to submit expressions of interest in funding Block Farms through the BBT initiative.
This programme is designed to involve young people and women in the growth of Block Farms, providing them with opportunities that are both long-lasting and empowering.
Tanzania is poised to become a food powerhouse and net exporter of agricultural goods as it is the leading producer of crops like maize, rice, cassava, beans, and more in the region. The BBT programme provides investors with the opportunity to capitalise on this growth and earn potentially substantial returns by purchasing blocks of land on farms.
The government has mapped out 162,492 acres of farmland in Mbeya, Dodoma, Kagera, and Kigoma for agricultural use.