• Tanzania warehouse receipt system sales a million tonnes of produce.
  • Government reports increased revenue via ware house system.
  • Tanzania to construct over 9000 factories to drive sale of local produce.

Tanzania’s agricultural sector is experiencing a quiet revolution—one stored in warehouses and tallied in receipts. In the 2024/2025 financial year alone, nearly one million tonnes of produce were successfully sold through the country’s increasingly popular Warehouse Receipt System (WRS), marking a staggering 142 per cent increase from the previous year.

This surge in uptake, revealed by Industry and Trade Minister Suleiman Jafo during a supervisory board meeting in Tanga, signals a growing confidence in structured commodity trading—paving the way for more transparent markets, empowered farmers, and better prices.

And with more sales expected this year, Tanzania’s bet on warehouse-backed trade is quickly becoming one of its boldest moves in agricultural reform in the East African country.

“The warehouse receipt system helps farmers to improve their economic status and also enables the government to collect revenue through formal sales of produce stored in warehouses,” local media quoted Suleiman Jafo.

He described the Tanzania warehouse receipts system as a vital tool for the country’s agricultural transformation that enables farmers to store their produce safely and access credit using their receipts as collateral.

The minister explained that the system addresses two critical challenges, post-harvest losses as well as limited market access. “Tanzania has already established itself as a regional leader in warehouse receipt system implementation, but systemic challenges still hinder its full potential,” he admitted.

Warehouse system has served to enhance transparency, discipline, and efficiency in agricultural trade and it has also benefitted farmers by allowing them to receive competitive prices through market bidding. “These achievements have also enabled various local government authorities to increase their revenues and that way, boost social and economic growth at the community level,” he added.

“This system is a major catalyst for the development of the agricultural and trade sectors,” the minister emphasised.

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Tanzania warehouse receipt system increases farmers’ earnings

According to the Tanzania Minister for Industry and Trade, Dr. Selemani Jafo, farmers across the nation have earned a total of TSh2.9 trillion through the warehouse receipt system during the 2024/2025 farming season alone.

Speaking recently in Morogoro Region during the opening of the second National Conference on Industry and Trade, Dr. Jafo said the Tanzania warehouse receipt system has also generated Tsh85 billion in revenue for Local Government Authorities (LGAs) during the same period.

This second National Conference on Industry and Trade brought together regional trade officers, heads of industry departments and trade officers from district councils across the country and served as a platform to discuss among other things, progress of the Tanzania warehouse receipt system.

Organised by the Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA), patrons of the conference were informed that the warehouse receipt system has delivered significant benefits to farmers and ensured fair pricing for their produce as well as protected them from exploitation.

“This system has transformed the agricultural sector. It enables farmers to sell their crops at competitive prices, which has improved their livelihoods,” he told the conference.

He also emphasised role of the Tanzania warehouse reciept system in uplifting smallholder farmers and increasing government revenue. That been said, he urged trade officers nationwide to oversee the effective implementation of the system to ensure it benefits farmers across all regions.

“I encourage trade officers to take responsibility and formalise trade through the Tanzania warehouse receipt system within their respective jurisdictions,” he urged.

Dr. Jafo used the opportunity to announce the government’s plan to construct 9,045 factories across the country that will further expand the Tanzania warehouse reciept system. He said the new factories will include small, medium and large-scale industries which will boost employment and industrial growth in the country.

According to the minister, the construction of the factories is expected to create about 6.5 million jobs and will significantly accelerate the country’s industrial and commercial development.

Morogoro Regional Commissioner, Adam Malima, underscored the region’s ambition to become the leader in clove production and in so doing, make the country the world’s second-largest producer of cloves after Indonesia.

“The plan aligns with ongoing efforts to distribute strategic crop seedlings these include one million clove seedlings that have already been distributed out to local government authorities,” he said.

RC Malima said the initiative is being implemented in collaboration with various stakeholders and that a total of five million strategic crop seedlings will be distributed to residents in the area to support both income generation and forest preservation initiatives.

Present at the conference was the Business Registrations and Licensing Agency (BRELA) Chief Executive Officer Godfrey Nyaisa who thanked the conference organisers for bringing together trade officers from all regional commissioner offices and district councils across mainland Tanzania.

“The main objective here is to foster experience sharing and capacity building through technical presentations that will help to improve the officers’ performance and oversight roles,” he said.