Agriculture continues to be among the important economic sectors in Zanzibar as it supports the livelihoods of 70% of the population directly and indirectly. For the year 2021, agriculture sector accounted for 27.1% of the total GDP, whereby the Livestock sector leading by 12.9% in terms of total agriculture sector contribution, followed with the crop sub-sector by 8.0; fisheries sub-sector 5.0% and forestry sub-sector 1.2%. This contribution to the GDP is attributed by its dominance in merchandise export earnings accounted for 70% of the total exports.
Zanzibar has a great potential for developing agriculture due to its comparative advantage of having conducive agro-climatic conditions that favour production of varieties of crops. The presence of wide varieties of fruits, vegetables and spices provide unique opportunity to capture both domestic and export markets. In recognition of this potential, the Government has committed itself to address the present shortcomings and scale up investments that would lead to increased agricultural production and productivity. The potential for agriculture to tackling socio-economic challenges including poverty and food insecurity is enormous. It is therefore imperative to operationalize the strategic framework to address existing challenges that hinder growth performance of the agriculture sector in Zanzibar.