To address this gap, Hon. Hussein Bashe, Minister of Agriculture, launched Building a Better Tomorrow: A Youth and Women Initiative for Agribusiness (BBT-YIA). This transformative initiative is not only a tool for empowering youth and women but also an integral driver for achieving Agenda 10/30, which aims to create 1.5 million youth jobs and achieve a 10% annual growth rate in the agricultural sector by 2030.

Why BBT-YIA Is Hon. Bashe’s Flagship Program

BBT-YIA represents Hon. Bashe’s innovative approach to tackling systemic challenges in Tanzania’s agriculture sector. It’s a flagship program because:

• Youth-Centric Focus: For the first time, agriculture is being reimagined to appeal to Tanzania’s youth, transforming it from a traditional livelihood into a modern and profitable career path.
• Integrated Approach: The program blends behavior change, capacity building, policy reform, and public-private partnerships to create a robust ecosystem for agribusiness success.
• Nationwide Impact: The initiative plans to establish 12,000 profitable agribusiness enterprises across all 12,000 villages in Tanzania within eight years, marking an unprecedented scale of transformation.
• Alignment with National Goals: As a critical pillar of Agenda 10/30, BBT-YIA directly contributes to food security, economic growth, and poverty reduction.

 BBT-YIA’s Strategic Pillars for Transformation

The program is designed around five key pillars to achieve its ambitious objectives:

1. Inspiring Youth Engagement: A targeted communication strategy rebrands agriculture as an exciting and lucrative career choice for youth. By shifting perceptions, the initiative aims to overcome cultural and attitudinal barriers.
2. Empowering Through Skills Development: Youth will undergo rigorous training, mentoring, and coaching to equip them with the technical and business skills necessary to thrive in agribusiness.
3. Engaging in Profitable Agribusiness: Participants will be supported in building sustainable agribusiness ventures that generate consistent income and contribute to local economies.
4. Enabling Policy and Regulatory Reform: The program advocates for a conducive environment by streamlining policies, improving regulations, and promoting business development services (BDS) for youth entrepreneurs.
5. Coordinated Efforts for Synergy: By uniting over 70 NGOs, public and private institutions, and development partners, BBT-YIA ensures efficient resource utilization and maximized outcomes for participants.

Transformative Targets and Milestones

Over the next eight years, BBT-YIA aims to:

• Train 200,000 youth in modern agribusiness practices.
• Facilitate 20,000 youth internships in agribusiness enterprises.
• Incubate and mentor 15,000 youth-led agribusiness ventures.
• Establish 12,000 profitable enterprises across Tanzania’s villages.

Participants will be grouped into four clusters based on their experience and interests in agriculture:

1. Youth with established agribusinesses.
2. Youth aspiring to launch agribusinesses.
3. Youth trained to join the workforce in agribusinesses.
4. Youth with no prior interest in agriculture, engaging them through awareness campaigns.

Investment and Public-Private Partnerships

BBT-YIA is a collaborative effort, with an estimated budget of Tanzania Shillings 356.199 billion (USD 148,416,167). Of this, 24% will be funded by the Tanzanian government, while the remaining 76% will come from development partners, NGOs, and private sector stakeholders.

The Ministry of Agriculture serves as the program’s facilitator and coordinator, ensuring seamless integration of resources, expertise, and implementation efforts.

The Path to a Better Tomorrow

BBT-YIA is more than just an initiative; it is a movement to redefine Tanzania’s agricultural landscape. By empowering youth and women, Hon. Bashe is laying the foundation for a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable agribusiness ecosystem.

As a flagship program, it exemplifies Hon. Bashe’s visionary leadership, ensuring that Tanzania’s youth and women are not only beneficiaries but also drivers of agricultural transformation. Through BBT-YIA, Tanzania is building a better tomorrow one enterprise, one village, and one empowered individual at a time.