The Minister for Agriculture, Hussein Bashe, has announced that the Government of Tanzania will launch a National Cooperative Bank (CoopBankTanzania) to address challenges faced by farmers in accessing financial services through commercial banks.
Speaking to journalists on April 10, 2025, in Dodoma, Minister Bashe said the bank will be officially launched on April 28, 2025, by President Samia Suluhu Hassan. The bank will start with a capital of TZS 55 billion and will be owned 51% by cooperative societies, SACCOS, and AMCOS. The remaining 49% of shares will be held by other stakeholders.
“In the past, Tanzania had a Cooperative Bank known as the Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (CRDB). However, after the collapse of the cooperative sector, the bank was transformed into a commercial entity, which is now known as CRDB,” Bashe explained.
He added that the failure of community banks like Kilimanjaro Cooperative Bank and Tandahimba Cooperative Bank — which needed government intervention and supervision to recover — reinforced the need to establish a new cooperative bank focused on supporting economic growth in rural communities, especially for farmers.
As of December 2024, Tanzania had 6,570 cooperative societies registered in the Cooperative Societies Management System (MUVU), out of 7,820 listed in the National Cooperative Societies Registry.
These cooperatives held assets valued at TZS 5.1 trillion as of the 2023/2024 audit. Additionally, 1.7 million tons of produce worth TZS 1.98 trillion were collected and sold through the warehouse receipt system under cooperative structures. This compares to 1.8 million tons worth TZS 1.76 trillion sold in the 2022/2023 financial year.
Bashe also noted that the new bank will initially open four branches, but all major cooperative unions will act as agents for the bank. These unions will be authorized to open accounts and process deposits and withdrawals, all in accordance with Bank of Tanzania regulations.
Furthermore, the minister revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture is in discussions with the Ministry of Finance and Planning to allow the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) to return to its core mission of empowering farmers.
“TADB is a development bank, not a commercial bank. Therefore, its loans should not be commercial in nature. Our farmers cannot handle short-term loans with two- or three-year repayment periods — it burdens them,” Bashe emphasized.
