Who we are

To actualize the SAGCOT initiative, the SAGCOT Centre was established as a coordination unit to facilitate the government, businesses, development partners, civil society organizations, and the farming community. Since its inception, the Centre has led agricultural transformation in Tanzania by mobilizing resources from private, public, and non-governmental institutions and aligning efforts toward a common goal. Having successfully achieved many of its key 2030 objectives ahead of schedule, SAGCOT is prepared to take on an even greater responsibility in 2025. For years, stakeholders from other agricultural corridors—namely Mtwara, Central, and Northern corridors—have been advocating for their inclusion in a similar initiative. In response to this request, on March 17, 2023, the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan, launched the African Food Systems Platform at the State House in Dar es Salaam. During the event, she established the Presidential Food and Agriculture Delivery Council, chaired by Hon. Mizengo Pinda, and appointed the CEO of SAGCOT Centre as a member of the council. In her address, the President directed SAGCOT to expand its efforts to include agricultural corridors across Tanzania. SAGCOT is now evolving into the Agricultural Growth Corridors of Tanzania (AGCOT) in response to this directive and the widespread demand from agricultural stakeholders. Remaining faithful to SAGCOT core values, AGCOT will continue to champion investments to bolster food security and nutrition while ensuring the inclusion and transformation of the smallholder farmers from subsistence to viable agribusinesses and, at the same time, ensuring agricultural development is implemented in a sustainable way. Simply put, AGCOT will strive to be a flagbearer of Tanzania’s drive towards its journey to transform and modernise its food systems. On April 19, 2024, Hon. Hussein Bashe, Minister for Agriculture (MP), led the 3rd National Consultation on the SAGCOT expansion strategy as it moves toward transforming into the Agricultural Growth Corridors of Tanzania (AGCOT). He endorsed and directed the implementation of the presidential directive to extend corridor initiatives beyond the SAGCOT Corridor, focusing on the Mtwara, Central, and Northern Corridors. These new corridors will adopt a similar approach to SAGCOT, tailored to specific agricultural ecological zones, also known as clusters. The design and implementation of AGCOT will be guided by investment blueprints for each corridor, which will identify stakeholders, business and investment opportunities, and key clusters within the corridors. The implementation of SAGCOT has been an integral part of Tanzania’s Development Vision 2025 and was born out of the Kilimo Kwanza Initiative, which recognized the importance of close and strategic collaboration between the government and the private sector. In this spirit, AGCOT continues to align with the newly developed Tanzania’s Vision 2050 and the New Agriculture Master Plan, marking a new epoch in Tanzania’s agricultural transformation as SAGCOT transitions fully into AGCOT. AGCOT will continue to advocate for closer collaboration among all stakeholders in the crops, livestock, fisheries, and other allied sectors critical to agricultural transformation, such as energy, infrastructure, and communications. Special emphasis will be placed on the upscaling SAGCOT approach, which is built around cluster compacts, commodity compacts, and the Mkulima kwa Mkulima Initiative. As a result of these interesting developments, the SAGCOT Centre has changed its name to AGCOT Centre. AGCOT Centre will continue to work toward a better and improved policy environment for agricultural transformation in Tanzania. A good business environment is key in ensuring access to knowledge that contributes to an efficient, well-functioning, and sustainable agricultural value chain. We believe in doing things differently to make a real difference. For us, this is about unusual business—a bold step toward a brighter future for Tanzania’s agriculture and its people. “SAGCOT - Transitioning into Agricultural Growth Corridors of Tanzania - AGCOT”