# What Tanzania produces: the sectors of the economy

> Tanzania's economy, industry by industry: mining and gold, agriculture and the export crops, energy, ports and transport, tourism and fisheries. What each produces, where, and how it works.

Canonical: https://seeyoutanzania.com/sectors
Last updated: 2026-09-21

The economy, industry by industry. Most Tanzanians farm; gold earns more abroad than anything else the country sells; and the ports, the parks and the lakes each carry an economy of their own. Each sector has its own page, and each product sits under the sector it belongs to.

## Mining

A tenth of the economy in 2024, and gold is the country's largest export by far. Also the only tanzanite on earth, diamonds, coal, and new projects in graphite, uranium and nickel.

[The mining page](https://seeyoutanzania.com/sectors/mining)

- [Gold](https://seeyoutanzania.com/sectors/mining/gold): About 47% of goods exports in the year to June 2026.
- [Tanzanite](https://seeyoutanzania.com/sectors/mining/tanzanite): Mined at Mererani, Manyara, and nowhere else.
- Diamonds (page in preparation): The Williamson mine at Mwadui, Shinyanga, since the 1940s.
- Coal and iron (page in preparation): Ngaka in Ruvuma; Liganga and Mchuchuma in Njombe.
- Critical minerals (page in preparation): Graphite in Lindi, uranium in Ruvuma, nickel in Kagera.

Where it happens: [Geita](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/geita), [Mara](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/mara), [Shinyanga](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/shinyanga), [Manyara](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/manyara), [Mbeya](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/mbeya), [Ruvuma](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/ruvuma)

## Agriculture

What most Tanzanians do for a living — about 65% of jobs in 2025, on World Bank estimates. The export crops each have their own country: tobacco in Tabora, cashew on the southern coast, coffee on the mountains, cotton in the Lake Zone, cloves on Pemba.

[The agriculture page](https://seeyoutanzania.com/sectors/agriculture)

- [Coffee](https://seeyoutanzania.com/sectors/agriculture/coffee): A record 76,470 tonnes in 2025/26; most of the arabica now grows in the far south.
- [Sugar](https://seeyoutanzania.com/sectors/agriculture/sugar): Seven irrigated estates, a first export in 2025, and shortages in 2026.
- Cashew (page in preparation): A record 617,683 tonnes in 2025/26, mostly from the southern coast.
- Tobacco (page in preparation): The largest crop export: USD 600 million in the year to April 2026.
- Sisal (page in preparation): First planted near Pangani in 1893.
- Cotton, tea, cloves and avocado (page in preparation): The other export crops, each tied to its own regions.

Where it happens: [Tabora](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/tabora), [Mtwara](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/mtwara), [Simiyu](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/simiyu), [Kilimanjaro](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/kilimanjaro), [Mbeya](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/mbeya), [Morogoro](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/morogoro), [Tanga](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/tanga), [Pemba](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/pemba)

## Energy (in preparation)

Natural gas from the south coast, the Julius Nyerere hydropower dam on the Rufiji, and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline from Uganda to Tanga.

## Ports and transport (in preparation)

Dar es Salaam port and the transit trade to Zambia, the DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Malawi, the standard-gauge railway, TAZARA and the Central Line.

## Tourism as an industry (in preparation)

Parks, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar as an economy, not a holiday: who earns what, and where the money goes.

## Fisheries (in preparation)

Nile perch and dagaa on Lake Victoria, the sardines of Lake Tanganyika, and the artisanal fleets of the coast.

## Checked against

- [Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) — Tanzania](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS?locations=TZ), World Bank, World Development Indicators
- [Tanzania's mining sector surpasses GDP target, hits 10.1 percent contribution (April 2025)](https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/national/tanzania-s-mining-sector-surpasses-gdp-target-hits-10-1-percent-contribution-5014044), The Citizen
- [Exports in the year ending June 2026 — from the Bank of Tanzania Monthly Economic Review](https://www.tanzaniainvest.com/economy/trade/bot-economic-review-exports-june-2026-2), TanzaniaInvest

## Related

- [Know Tanzania](https://seeyoutanzania.com/know)
- [World Heritage Sites](https://seeyoutanzania.com/world-heritage)