The promotion of agricultural value chains in Tanzania has attracted the attention of the Government and other key local and international stakeholders in the agriculture sector. The Programme on Market Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Finance (MIVARF) was initiated with the main goal of contributing to the development of viable value chains that involve the economically active rural poor in Tanzania. This paper is an extract from the on-going research and it seeks among other things, to examine whether the underlying government mechanisms and structures can address the financial problems of agricultural and rural development in the selected districts in Tanzania. Desk-based literature review on quantitative data has been carried out from Programme’s financial and physical progress reports with regards to various projects under the participating districts. Based on the available reports, MIVARF has supported the development of 23 value chains involving different staple and cash crops, as well as fish and livestock. Paddy is by far the lead value chain with 25 Districts (34%), followed by sunflower and maize (7 districts each), bananas (6 districts), cassava and fish (4 districts each), sesame (3 districts), cashew nuts and fruits & vegetables (2 districts each), various horticulture crops (garlic, onions, citrus, apples, avocadoes, grapes, yams, each in 1 district) and dairy and meat products (1 district each). It is recommended that, in all value-chain projects and programmes, priorities that are defined and specified regarding the intended objectives and target groups to be reached, and the promotion profile must be laid down clearly. For the persistently poor, who remain outside the reach of valuechain promotion, corresponding support activities are unavoidable. Additionally, appropriate riskminimising strategies should be defined for risk-averse smallholders including saving and other forms of asset accumulation, insurance schemes, sales guarantees, and different forms of contract farming as well as carrying out corresponding promotion activities.