Looking for farmland in Tanzania? Try the Prisons Service

International investors looking for farmland in Tanzania should consider joint ventures with the Tanzania Prisons Service (TPS), which owns large areas of unexploited land.

So said George Nyongo, owner of Global Marketing Ltd, during a recent business briefing in Stellenbosch, South Africa, organised by the Agribusiness Development Corporation.

It has been reported that the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) has partnered with the TPS to market the latter’s 130,000 hectares of land to investors.

Nyongo said the TPS has one of the largest total land holdings in the country but that it doesn’t have the expertise to develop it. “They have limitation of equipment and finance. Less than 10% of their land holding is developed. It has been idle for the last 50 years.”

“Commercial farmers who are interested to come to Tanzania . . . I would suggest they look first to work with these government institutions,” Nyongo said.

He added that it is safe to work with the TPS because it is 100% owned by the government.

Nyongo’s company, Global Marketing, creates market linkages between Tanzanian organisations and foreign business people.

He said that foreign companies that want to export to Tanzania shouldn’t bother with trade fairs. “Trade fairs don’t have the right impact. The best way is to have a market visit to selected companies.”