The United Republic of Tanzania was formed in 1964 as a union between mainland Tanzania (Tanganyika) and the Zanzibar isles (Unguja and Pemba). The country has rich natural and mineral resources and diverse agro-climatic regions. Tanzania has a population of 47,422,000 (2014 projection based on 2012 census data). It has an annual population growth rate of 2.7 percent per year.

Tanzania registered an average economic growth of 7 percent in the past decade, which was well above the 6 percent average for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and East African Community (EAC) members and the global average of 4 percent.

In 2014, the country’s ‘Human Development Index (HDI)’ score was 0.521, making it 151st of 188 countries, which puts the country in the low human development category. Between 1985 and 2014, Tanzania’s HDI value increased from 0.371 to 0.521, an increase of 40.5 percent or an average annual increase of about 1.18 percent

Despite this improvement, poverty and under-nutrition remain acute and widespread, particularly in rural areas where more than 80 percent of the population is found.

Agriculture accounts for 26.7 percent of Tanzania's GDP and provides employment for majority of the nation’s population. Opportunities exist for agriculture businesses across domestic, regional and international markets, for both traditional and new products. However, productivity is low with modest progress over the past two decades. It is dominated by smallholder farmers dependent on rain-fed production, limited use of improved seeds and fertilizers, and the low share of cultivated over arable land.

Tanzania is also richly endowed with forest resources which cover 48.1 million hectares which is an equivalent of 55 percent of the total surface land area of Tanzania Mainland including woodlands, catchment forests, mangroves, coastal forests and government forest plantations. However, deforestation rate is high due to demand for firewood as a major source of energy in the majority of households, clearance of land for farming and industrial purposes etc. For instance, between 1990 and 2015 Tanzania lost an average of 17 percent of its forests a situation that is alarming.

On livestock sector, Tanzania has the third largest livestock population in Africa comprising 25 million cattle, 98 percent of which are indigenous breeds, complemented by 16.7 million goats, 8 million sheep, 2.4 million pigs, and 36 million chickens. The country also has outstanding natural resources for livestock development including resilient livestock breeds, extensive rangelands and diverse natural vegetation. Despite these resources, the livestock sector is performing well below its potential. The sector contributes 7.4 percent to the country’s GDP and the annual growth rate of the sector is low at 2.2 percent. The sector is severely constrained by low livestock reproductive rates, high mortality and high disease prevalence.

Fishery resources are a vital source of food and make valuable economic contributions to the local communities involved in fishery activities along the 850 km stretch of the Tanzania coastline and numerous islands. Small-scale artisanal fishery accounts for the majority of fish catch produced by more than 43,000 fishermen in the country, mainly operating in shallow waters within the continental shelf, using traditional fishing vessels including small boats, dhows, canoes, outrigger canoes and dinghys. Destructive fishing methods such as drag nets and dynamite fishing pose a serious problem as they destroy important habitats for fish and other organisms, and there is a long-term trend of overharvested fishery resources.

Other development challenges include youth unemployment, climate change, addressing infrastructure bottlenecks, improving the business environment, improving service delivery to build a healthy and skilled workforce, and managing urbanization.