Tanzania: Jica, Sido Partner Industrial Development

By Elkana Kuhenga

JAPAN International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will partner with Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) to launch a summarised and Kiswahili-translated version manual of 'Industrial Cluster Development Strategy' early 2020 to help the

high ranking government officials and general public in sensitising industrial sector in Tanzania.

SIDO officially authorised and published the Industrial Cluster Development Operational Manual' early this month to guide and facilitate the Industrial Cluster Development nationwide.

JICA has supported the Industrial Cluster Development in the country for about eight years.

Since June 2015 JICA has dispatched a Japanese advisor to SIDO, and offered assistance to SIDO in formulation of its strategy and to disseminate the Cluster Development Approach.

According to the statement issued by JICA, the guiding document to facilitate the Industrial Cluster Development nationwide was developed with inputs by more than 200 stakeholders from the central and local governments in the country, private sector, academia and development partners, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as a main partner.

The Industrial Cluster Development Approach has already been adopted by industries in some regions namely Dodoma and Kigoma.

JICA has also supported Mbeya for paddy rice milling and sunflower oil, Mwanza for leather products, Singida for sunflower oil, Kagera for metal and carpentry and Kilimanjaro for milk processing.

This decision to adopt the manual was to improve the environment of industries in Tanzania, 'after constantly faced with the problem of not having enough budgets to develop industrial parks for SMEs', as briefed in a report released in February last year named Tanzania Industrial Cluster Development: Pre-FS Quality Control Work Completion Report.

In their statement JICA came up with the following findings, a gross value added per cluster member firm increased by 18-22 per cent annually.

A gross value added in Singida sunflower oil cluster increased from 320m/-in 2015 to 831m/-last year.

A gross value added in Mwanza leather product cluster increased from 173m/-in 2015 to 230m/- last year.

A gross value added in Mbeya rice milling cluster increased from 494m/-in 2015 to 2,226m/-(2018) and the availability of sunflower seeds increased from 2.9 million tons in 2015 to 3.1 million tons in 2017.