The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) awarded 5 local agro-investors with USD700,000 to expand agro production activities.
The grant, awarded through the Catalytic Trust Fund (CTF), was signed on 22nd June 2016 in Dar es Salaam.
The grant beneficiaries of the project are Geoman Cane Estate, Njombe Milk Factory, Asas Dairy, Mtenda Kyela Rice Supply, and Muvek Development Solutions.
Geoman Cane Estate alone received USD287,000. The funds will be used by the company as additional support for the construction of a sugar factory in Mikumi.
The factory is expected to produce 150t of sugar per day initially, and to reach a maximum capacity of 500t.
John Kyaruzi, Executive Secretary of SAGCOT CTF, explained that the project will improve sugar production starting next season since it only needs 1 year to go into production.
The rest of the beneficiaries will use SAGCOT’s support to improve dairy and rice production, and to commercialize rural poultry enterprises.
SAGCOT, initiated in 2010, is a public-private partnership that aims to further develop the Tanzania agricultural sector through agribusiness investments in the country’s southern corridor.
Tanzania’s southern corridor is compounded by the southern highlands going from Dar es Salaam in the country’s coastal region to Sumbawanga in the border region with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia.
