Tanzania Agriculture to Receive Increased Investments

According to a recent report by the Citizen, the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (TCCIA) Investment Company Limited has made plans to increase their investments in the Tanzania agriculture sector in order to supplement their overall earnings.

The TCCIA Investment Company Ltd. (TCCIA Co.) is a public limited liability company that was established by the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) in order to help make the TCCIA a self financing organism and to allow the enabling TCCIA members as well as Tanzanian businesspeople to take a leading role in the development of the Tanzanian economy through investments in different sectors.

To date, the founding members for the company, which was incorporated on November 9, 1999 following an Initial Public Offering, which realized a total of TZS 188,340,000and, have contributed a total of TZS 25,650,000.

Today, the TCCIA has over 2500 shareholders and the company has invested TZS 1.3 billion in the National Microfinance Bank (NMB), TZS 98.2 million in the Dar es Salaam Community Bank (DCB) and TZS 122.9 million in Twiga Cement.

While speaking during the company’s recent 4th Annual General Meeting (AGM), Aloyce Mwamanga, the TCCIA deputy board chairman, said the his company is also planning to purchase a variety of agricultural products from small-scale farmers in order to sell them to both local and foreign markets.

“To begin with,” said Mr. Mwamanga, “we will this year start growing onions as plans to invest in a rice-milling factory are underway then, we will start selling rice in and outside Tanzania.”

The company is currently planning to increase its capital over the next year by floating its shares for sale at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.

“We will do that after completing the company’s corporate plan and a thorough analysis of the company’s assets,” said MR. Mwamanga in the Citizen report, “Then, we will be able to understand the amount required to invest in the projects that we wish to undertake.”

The citizen report went on to indicate that the board chairman for the TCCIA, Elvis Musiba, had announced that the company had decided to place significant emphasis on the agriculture sector after having carefully analyzed the food prices in both the  local and the foreign markets.

“With the dwindling world economies, food prices have been picking up and this is the opportune time for Tanzania to invest hugely in agriculture,” he said.