NATIONAL TARGET ONE: HALVE BETWEEN 1990 AND 2015, THE PROPORTION OF PEOPLE WHOSE INCOME IS LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR A DAY

Status and Trends

Despite impressive performance in macroeconomic aggregates, progress in poverty reduction was slow during the 1990s, and for Mainland uncertainty of recent trends remains because of the lack of data in 2004/05. Results of the forthcoming 2007 Household Budget Survey will help establish trends. Challenges are, however, acknowledged and include persistent disparities between rural/urban areas, and between regions.
The challenge of translating growth into poverty reduction remains, pointing to the fact that, it is not only growth that matters, but also the quality of growth. In the Mainland, the latest figures indicate a small fall in income poverty (basic needs) during the 1990s from 38.6 per cent to 35.7 per cent in 2001. However, the actual number of poor people has increased as a result of population growth. During the same period, food poverty decreased from 22 per cent to 19 per cent. Inequality increased slightly, mainly in urban areas.
In Zanzibar, the proportion of people living below the basic needs poverty line was 50.5 per cent in 2004. This represents a decrease from 60 per cent in 1990. However, the slow pace in poverty reduction implies that the target of 30 per cent by 2015 needs much more attention. The proportion of people living below the food poverty line was 14 per cent down from 25 per cent in 1990.

Supportive Environment

Poverty reduction efforts in Tanzania are guided by both short and long-term policy frameworks and strategies. These include the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 (for Mainland) and Vision 2020 (for Zanzibar), National Poverty Eradication Strategy, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (Mainland) and Zanzibar Poverty Reduction Plan as well as various Sectoral Policies and Strategies and the MDGs. The National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) is a second generation of Poverty Reduction Strategy. Although it builds on the first PRS there are marked differences. The NSGRP places more emphasis on growth as a means to reduce poverty. It has also put more emphasis on good governance and accountability. The NSGRP is MDG-based and has adopted an outcome/results orientation. Like the PRS, the NSGRP is consistent with the aspirations of the Development Vision 2025 and the National Poverty Eradication Strategy. In the same vein, Zanzibar has developed its outcome based Zanzibar Strategy for Growth and the Reduction of Poverty ZSGRP/MKUZA through a participatory review of the first Zanzibar Poverty Reduction Plan (ZPRP).

Tanzania has been implementing different reforms since the 1980s. These reforms have resulted in significant improvements in macroeconomic indicators. These include a sustained positive growth rate of the economy, low inflation rate, a stable exchange rate regime and an improved business environment. The subsequent stable and predictable macroeconomic environment has restored the confidence of the civil society, development partners and the private sector and thus stimulated investment. To that effect foreign direct investments (FDIs) have increased considerably in recent years.

Over the last 10 years the Government has devoted more resources to social spending. For example, education budgetary allocation increased eight fold (in nominal terms) from Tshs. 76,504 million (1995/96) to Tshs. 669,537 million (2005/06). Further measures have been put in place including ring fencing of social expenditure and increasing annual allocations to social sectors in real terms and an orientation towards pro-poor budgeting process.

The government is implementing Property and Business Formalization Programme (PBFP) with the aim of mainstreaming informal sector into formal sector so as to increase accessibility of credit to the poor and vulnerable groups. The government in partnership with private sector and other stake holders is implementing the BEST programme to facilitate both local and foreign investments, hence job creation. The Mini Tiger 2020 Plan is being implemented, and aims at increasing the rate of economic growth and the per capita income including job opportunities.

The Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) phase two is operational country wide, and its main objective is to support community-initiated activities and projects to mitigate poverty and create wealth.
The Ministry of Planning, Economy and Empowerment (MPEE) has developed a policy of empowerment of Tanzanians to enable them participate in various economic activities. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are being guaranteed by the Bank of Tanzania (BOT) when they seek loans from financial institutions as part of the programmes to promote entrepreneurship.

Food security is assured by the government Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR). This is used to stabilize food prices and to support poor families in the event of a food crisis.
Through the other sectors including agriculture and health, measures are being enhanced to address the issues of poverty reduction and community empowerment. This includes prevention of low birth weight, improving child feeding practices, micronutrient supplementation and salt iodations, capacity building for nutrition interventions and treatment of chronically malnourished children.

Major Challenges and Priorities

The challenge of meeting this MDG target lies in the fact that the nature of poverty both in the Mainland and Zanzibar is mainly rural. The rural population, accounting for over three quarters of the population, depends mainly on agricultural livelihoods. Agriculture also accounts for close to 50 per cent of GDP in the Mainland and 23 per cent in Zanzibar. Performance of the agricultural sector has not been satisfactory in terms of growth, being the slowest growing sector in both economies. Public and private sector investment in agriculture has remained small and inadequate despite elaborate policies to promote development. Support to agro-processing industry has also been modest, with the end result being agricultural exports comprising mainly of unprocessed primary products. These products face declining terms of trade in the world markets thus undermining incentives for small scale producers.

NATIONAL TARGET TWO: HALVE BETWEEN 1990 AND 2015, THE PROPORTION OF PEOPLE WHO SUFFER FROM HUNGER

Status and Trends

While the availability of food as measured by the proportion of people with access to basic calorie intake is high, malnutrition in children under five years old persists. The proportion has been falling over time, though the pace of the decline has been slow. Thus more efforts are needed to ensure that the target is achieved in terms of both wasting and stunting.

Supportive Environment

Nutrition issues have been integrated in the country’s development strategies like MKUKUTA and partnerships involving public, private sector and communities in participation and ownership of intervention programmes for promoting nutrition. This supportive environment is augmented by advocacy, education, research and communication of appropriate information and messages.

Major Challenges and Priorities

The prospects of achieving this target are more challenging. Efforts to combat hunger are closely related to the issue of food security that is a function of production, accessibility and utilization of food resources. Social and cultural factors also play a role. In order to meet the challenge of achieving this goal, actions will be taken in the following areas:

Quick Impact Interventions

To accelerate growth of the agricultural sector in order to improve incomes and nutrition, combination of strategies is needed:
With respect to increasing incomes:

With respect to improving nutrition: