Agriterra & Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission are now joining forces

Agriterra & TCDC (Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to express the willingness of both parties to cooperate in the effort of strengthening Agricultural Cooperative Societies in Tanzania.
 

Great agricultural potential

Agriterra’s team of business advisors in Tanzania – based out of Dar Es Salaam and Mbeya - works with large cooperative unions and primary cooperatives in cashew, rice, maize & coffee, in order to support their agri-business development and stimulate agricultural industrialisation. Agriterra also supports Saving & Credit cooperatives societies (SACCOS), with the objective to increase access to finance in rural areas.
Tanzania has great agricultural potential and is a truly cooperative country and cooperatives can play an important role in the reform and improvement of the agricultural economy of Tanzania. The big challenge for cooperatives is to strengthen entrepreneurship and professional management in order to produce crop quantities that are attractive for domestic & international markets, as well as a prerequisite to attract investment. Agriterra & TCDC are now joining forces to professionalise the cooperative sector in Tanzania.

  Signing the MoU

Agriterra provides high quality and hands-on advice, training and exchange services, to cooperatives and farmer organisations with maximum impact for socio-economically strong and productive rural areas. In 2018, with 117 employees, Agriterra advises 208 cooperatives in 17 countries worldwide. With their programme they reach more than 500.000 farmers.
In the last two years Agriterra mobilised more than 20 million euro through policy changes. More than 40 cooperatives are linked to banks with a mobilised loan for working capital and investments of more than 15 million euro, while 33 clients have a processing facility with increased production.

Farmers organised in strong, competitive and trustworthy cooperatives, are crucial for a vibrant rural economy, fostering agricultural development and off-farm employment in rural areas. Agriterra draws on a century of cooperative knowledge in the Netherlands disclosed via its extensive network in the Dutch agri-food sector. These experts and Agripool experts from farmers organisations all over the world, work together with business advisors from the Netherlands and national business advisors in the countries where Agriterra staff is based.