Other food crops include sorghum, millet, pulses, cassava, potatoes, bananas, plantains, sugar, groundnuts, sesame, coconuts, and soy beans. The major crops for export or industrial use include coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco, cashew nuts, and sisal. Coffee is the country's major export. Its production provides income for more than two million people. Tea and sisal are grown mainly on large estates.
Sisal is one of the primary foreign exchange earners.
In 1976, its production declined due to competition from synthetic fibers and the government nationalization of Sisal industries. Production started picking up in the 1990s and remained higher than originally estimated, with levels of 36,000 tons in 1991, and 28,000 tons in 1992. Cotton is mainly grown on small farms, primarily in Tanga, Muranza, Kogoma, Kagera, Singida , coastal areas, Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions. Cashew nuts are grown along the coastal belt from Mtwara to Tanga, almost entirely on small farms. By 1991, ten of the 13 Cashew factories had closed, and the remaining three were working at half capacity.