Tanzania, Qatar eye ventures in key sectors

Tanzania and Qatar are moving to formalise strategic investment partnerships across livestock, fisheries and agriculture aimed at boosting local processing capacity, cutting feed costs and expanding exports of red meat and crops into Middle Eastern markets. Senior Tanzanian officials — Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Ambassador Dr Bashiru Ally and Minister for Agriculture Mr Daniel Chongolo — held high-level talks with Dr Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah, chairman of Qatar’s ThirtyFive Investment Holding, with both sides agreeing to expedite Memoranda of Understanding to transition opportunities into commercial ventures.

"Qatar's expanding market for agricultural and marine imports means we must build integrated supply chains linking crop production, animal feed and processing," Dr Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah said, underlining the investment firm's focus on food security and integrated value chains.

Dr Bashiru Ally outlined Tanzania's ambition to scale annual meat exports substantially, revealing plans to raise processing capacity to move exports from 15,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes annually and to position Qatar as a cornerstone market. To meet stringent Middle Eastern food safety and quality standards, Dr Ally invited Qatari capital into deep-sea tuna fishing, cold-chain logistics and processing infrastructure at the Kilwa Masoko Fishing Port and at the proposed Bagamoyo port hub.

Trade figures cited during the engagement show Qatar as Tanzania’s leading Middle Eastern meat buyer: in early 2024 Qatar imported over 3,300 tonnes of beef, goat and mutton valued at 13.6 million US dollars, with broader annual bilateral trade exceeding 21.7 million US dollars. Those numbers framed the economic rationale for deeper private-sector partnerships in processing, logistics and feed production.

Sector priorities and investment asks

• Livestock and meat processing: expand processing capacity to achieve a target of 50,000 tonnes of annual exports and develop cold-chain infrastructure at Kilwa Masoko and Bagamoyo.
• Fisheries: invest in deep-sea tuna fishing and port-based processing facilities to access Middle Eastern markets and meet safety standards.
• Agriculture and feed: scale large-scale soybean and maize farming, sugar processing and commercial poultry, egg and animal feed production to reduce feed costs and improve competitiveness.
• Crop processing and resilience: investment in grain silos, crop processing facilities, climate-resilient farming and efficient irrigation to boost exports of cashews, coffee, avocados, rice, tea and pulses.

Minister Daniel Chongolo pitched Tanzania’s comparative advantages in high-value commodities, urging Qatari firms to invest in modernised crop processing, storage and irrigation technologies that can elevate export volumes and quality. The Tanzanian ministers framed these investments as necessary to meet market entry requirements and to add value domestically rather than exporting raw commodities.

Dr Al Attiyah, a former Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and head of ThirtyFive Investment Holding, stressed the economics behind feed production, noting that "poultry feed accounts for nearly 70 per cent of production costs," and expressed interest in upstream investments that would lower those costs through local soybean and maize cultivation and domestic feed manufacturing.

Both sides committed to expedite formal MoUs to create operational frameworks and convert identified opportunities into commercial projects. If realised, the partnerships could stimulate private investment in port and cold-chain infrastructure, expand Tanzania’s agricultural and marine export footprint into the Gulf, and address cost drivers such as imported feed that currently depress producer margins.