NATIONAL RANCHING COMPANY LTD (NARCO)

NARCO is a Parastatal organization under the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. The history of NARCO can be traced back to pre-independence with the establishment of Overseas Food Corporation in the late 1940s dealing with groundnuts and livestock production. The livestock activities were transferred to Tanganyika Agricultural Corporation (TAC) in mid 1950s. Following independence, the livestock production activities were placed under the National Agricultural Company (NACO). Finally on 14th October 1975, NACO was changed to National Ranching Company (NARCO). NARCO is therefore, established under the Companies Act. Cap. 212 with the government of Tanzania owning 100% of the shares. The company was established with the aim to carry out the business of commercial ranching in Tanzania with emphasis on beef production. As such 15 ranches were established in 10 regions in Tanzania. The ranches are Kongwa (Dodoma), Mkata and Dakawa (Morogoro), Ruvu (Coast), Mzeri Hill (Tanga), West Kilimanjaro (Kilimanjaro), Manyara (Arusha), Uvinza (Kigoma), Kalambo (Rukwa), Usangu (Mbeya), Kikulula, Mabale, Kagoma, Misenyi and Kitengule (Kagera). Except for Manyara ranch, all the remaining 14 ranches are still operational under NARCO. A new ranch namely Mwisa II in Kagera region will soon join the ranks as the newest member of NARCO ranches.

In the early years of operations, NARCO enjoyed great success in ranching business raising large heads of high quality Boran cattle and producing envious Kongwa beef. However, with the country embarking on economic reforms in the 1990s, NARCO was earmarked for privatization. For over 16 years from 1992, NARCO was placed under the Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) with the aim of privatization of the company. Later in 2002 the Government reversed its decision on privatization of NARCO and directed that instead the ranches be subdivided into core ranches (run directly by NARCO) and smaller ranch blocks for leasing to local investors for livestock production. NARCO is therefore, working hand in hand with private investors in running her ranches. Currently there are 116 long-term and over 120 short-term investors leasing NARCO ranch blocks for conducting ranching business.