Tanzania is heavily dependent on agriculture and faces ongoing challenges in meeting nutritional
targets. Poverty and under-nutrition are concentrated in rural areas; amongst households engaged
in small-scale agriculture, stunting levels remain high, at 42%, whilst moderate wasting is
at 4% and underweight is at 16%. Under-five and infant mortality rates have declined significantly
but are still high, at 108/1,000 and 68/1,000 live births, respectively. Malnutrition, including
micronutrient deficiencies, is constraining labour productivity in both the smallholder and large
scale sub-sectors. In addition, increased population is pressing hard on the environment and diminishing
resources. Strategic initiatives to harness the potential of agriculture to meet nutritional
targets have been endorsed as key national priorities in the past five years, with support
from a range of external agencies and donors, and have direct implications for agricultural policy
and programmes, agricultural research, market reforms and the delivery of nutritional and wider
public health programmes. This review provides an overview of the Tanzanian economy, poverty
levels, agricultural production levels and nutrition situation, as well as a critical review of the policy
environment for linking agriculture and nutrition. Economic growth and poverty reduction as
well as increased food security are brought about by; (i) increased investment in the agriculture
sector by both the government/public and private sector; (ii) increased use of inputs (improved
seeds and fertilisers), to improve land and labour productivity and per capita food production;
and (iii) better infrastructure and markets. The key recommendation is to prioritise the nutrition
agenda in all policy document reviews since nutrition is paramount and a cross-cutting issue that
will help steer Tanzania towards healthier and more productive citizens.