Livestock Export Permit Tanzania: Goats, Cattle, Poultry, Meat Board Registration and Fees

This guide explains every livestock export permit Tanzania requires for cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, poultry and animal products, with the per-head fees, the Meat Board and licence steps, Zanzibar, and a costed 500-goat shipment.

What the law says

On the Mainland, five instruments govern a live animal export. Each has its own authority and its own paper.

• The Animal Diseases Act, 2003. The Animal Diseases Act, 2003 (Act No. 17 of 2003) is printed as Cap. 156 in the tanzanialaws edition. Section 3 creates the Director of Veterinary Services. Section 43 controls livestock movement and section 44 lets an inspector issue a permit only for animals that are clinically healthy and have met vaccination and other control conditions. Section 45 places trade livestock under control at border posts and checkpoints. Section 65 lets the Minister prescribe fees for any certificate or permit.
• The movement control regulations. The Animals and Animal Products Movement Control Regulations, 2007 (GN 28 of 2007, dated 26 January 2007) set the permits and the fee schedules. They were amended by GN 489A of 2020, GN 478C of 2022 and GN 448K of 2023.
• The Meat Industry Act, 2006. The Meat Industry Act, 2006 (Act No. 10 of 2006) creates the Tanzania Meat Board in section 8. Section 17 bars anyone from trading in livestock without the Board's certificate.
• The traceability law. The Livestock Identification, Registration and Traceability Act, 2010 (Act No. 12 of 2010) requires identified animals and dealer records. Section 21 requires exported livestock to be registered with the Director.
• The hides and skins law. The Hides, Skins and Leather Trade Act, 2008 (Act No. 18 of 2008), in force from 1 June 2009, licenses premises that prepare, store or export hides and skins.

The Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries runs the system through its official website and the MIMIS permit portal. Its 2025 guide on moving livestock within and outside the country confirms that export and import permits are requested through MIMIS.

Who should read this

• Livestock traders who buy goats, sheep and cattle at secondary and border markets for export;
• Exporters to the Gulf and Comoros shipping live animals by sea or air;
• Hatcheries and poultry farms selling day-old chicks or breeding stock abroad;
• Abattoirs and meat processors exporting chilled or frozen meat, hides and skins;
• Foreign buyers and investors setting up a sourcing or feedlot operation in Tanzania.

The trade is growing. In its May 2024 budget speech the Ministry reported 13,745.38 tonnes of meat exported by April 2024, worth USD 56.6 million. Goat meat made up 72.6 per cent of that trade, with buyers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the UAE and Comoros. Our guide to livestock value-chain investment covers ranches, feedlots and abattoirs.

Which animals and products does this cover?

Every live animal and most animal products need a veterinary export permit. The fee schedule names cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, mules and donkeys. The Ministry's zoosanitary export and import protocols set separate routes for these groups:

Fish and fishery products follow a separate fisheries file; see our guide to the fish export licence. Wild animals fall under the wildlife law and are outside this guide.

Who issues the livestock export permit?

The Director of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. The Director is a veterinarian appointed under section 3 of the Animal Diseases Act. Inspectors appointed under section 4 issue the field permits and inspect the animals.

The application goes through MIMIS (Mifugo Integrated Management Information System). The exporter registers once, completes a profile and then requests each permit online. The protocols require the importing country's conditions to be attached. Those conditions decide the tests, vaccinations and quarantine period that the Director will certify.

Two documents come out of this stage:

• The export permit, which authorises the consignment to leave; and
• The veterinary health certificate, signed by a government veterinarian after inspection, which travels with the animals.

The Act itself speaks of permits and certification rather than "health certificates". The certificate wording follows the importing country's model. A certificate that does not match the buyer's model can strand a shipment at the destination port.

How do you register with the Tanzania Meat Board?

Section 17 of the Meat Industry Act says no person may carry on business as a livestock producer, trader or market operator without a valid certificate from the Board. Section 20 makes the certificate valid for one year, renewable on payment of the prescribed fee. Section 16 tells the Registrar to keep registers of traders, exporters and abattoirs.

Exporters deal with the Board twice:

1. Stakeholder registration. Register as a livestock trader or exporter and renew every year.
2. Export clearance. Obtain the Board's clearance certificate for each consignment. The Confederation of Tanzania Industries trade procedure for live animals, updated in 2023, lists this clearance beside the Director's export permit.

The Board's registration and clearance fees are not in our fee register; the Board assesses them on application. Operating without registration is an offence under section 33, with a fine of at least TZS 50,000, prison of up to four months, or both. The fine rises to at least TZS 1,000,000 for a later offence.

Which business licence does a livestock exporter need?

Keeping livestock needs no business licence. Exporting it does. Section 3 of the Business Licensing Act, Cap. 101, takes farming, livestock keeping and dairy outside the Act (NEW-08-16). A herder selling his own goats at the local market therefore pays no licence fee.

Buying animals to export is a trade. The Schedule to Cap. 101 carries two dedicated export lines in Part A, both issued by BRELA on the Tanzania National Business Portal:

A goat and sheep exporter takes the "other livestock" line, not the general agricultural goods line (F0865). A cattle exporter takes the cattle line. Each licence lasts 12 months and every renewal needs a TRA tax clearance certificate; see our guide to the tax clearance certificate and to business licence fees. The Ministry's 2025 guide also asks commercial livestock movers for a TIN, a tax clearance and Meat Board registration.

What must happen before the animals leave?

Most of the time in a livestock export goes into the weeks before loading. Four steps run in sequence.

• Identification. Section 9 of the 2010 Act makes it an offence to sell, transport or dispatch unidentified livestock in a compulsory identification area. The fine reaches TZS 2,000,000, with up to one year in prison. Section 20 bars marketing livestock for export without the prescribed documents.
• Movement permits. Every commercial trip inside the country needs an Animal Health Livestock Movement Permit, issued through MIMIS by the inspector at the market or the council livestock office. The 2025 guide requires the permit for each trip.
• Pre-export quarantine. The protocols require animals to be held in a quarantine facility, or on a farm under close supervision of a registered veterinarian, for the period the importing country sets. The CTI procedure describes at least 21 days for vaccination, treatment and dipping. Poultry need at least 30 days.
• Inspection and certification. A government veterinarian inspects the animals and signs the health certificate. Under section 44 of the Act, the permit issues only if the animals are free of disease and the control conditions are met.

An exporter that owns its own holding ground should also have it certified. The CTI procedure lists a quarantine facility certificate from the Veterinary Council of Tanzania. A large holding ground may also need a NEMC environmental registration; the annual NEMC fee for livestock keeping of up to 1,000 head is TZS 500,000 (NEW-05-06).

What does the government charge for a livestock export?

The per-head fees sit in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Schedules to GN 28 of 2007, as amended by GN 478C of 2022 with effect from 1 July 2022. The Ministry issues a GePG control number for each permit.

The fee for the veterinary health certificate itself is not set out as a separate line in our register. The Ministry assesses it with the permit. Our guide to export levies and charges sets these fees beside the other export charges.

Can you export donkeys from Tanzania?

The position is restricted and partly unclear. Treat any donkey deal as needing written confirmation from the Director of Veterinary Services first.

• Slaughter for trade. Mwananchi reported on 10 January 2023 that commercial donkey slaughter has been banned since October 2021, quoting the Director of Veterinary Services. The government also stopped trade in donkey meat and skins.
• The 2022 budget statement. The Donkey Sanctuary reported on 21 June 2022 that the Minister for Livestock and Fisheries announced the ban in his budget speech, citing a national population of about 650,000 donkeys.
• Live donkeys. The fee schedule still prints an export fee of TZS 30,000 per mule or donkey (F0776). We found no gazetted notice that bans or allows live donkey exports. Whether the Director currently issues such permits is unknown.

We did not locate the Government Notice behind the slaughter ban. A buyer should not sign for donkeys, donkey skins or donkey meat until the Ministry confirms the position in writing.

How are hides, skins and meat treated?

Hides and skins. Section 14 of the 2008 Act bars preparing, storing or exporting hides and skins from premises that do not hold a valid licence. Section 16 requires graders to be licensed. Section 32 bars exporting defective or badly dried hides; goods can be forfeited. The penalty for these offences reaches TZS 1,000,000, with up to 12 months in prison.

The export tax is steep. Raw hides and skins pay 80% of FOB value or USD 0.52 per kilogram, whichever is greater (F0332). Wet blue leather pays 10% of FOB (F0333). The TRA export procedures page prints the same rates. The Ministry's May 2024 budget speech reported 1,542,916 hide pieces sold abroad by April 2024, to Nigeria, Togo, Kenya, Ethiopia and Pakistan.

Meat. Chilled and frozen meat needs the Director's export permit, the Meat Board's clearance, an abattoir approved for export and, for most buyers, halal certification the destination accepts. Our note on halal meat and Nile perch export chains covers that route.

What does the importing country require?

The buyer's rules decide most of the file. Tanzanian officers certify against them, but they are importing-country matters and the buyer's authority decides them.

• Gulf states. Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait each set their own import conditions, usually through an import permit issued to the buyer. The permit names the disease tests, vaccinations and quarantine they expect.
• Comoros. The Ministry's 2024 speech names Comoros among Tanzania's meat markets. Its import conditions come from its own veterinary authority.
• Kenya and other EAC states. Animals of EAC origin that meet the rules of origin enter partner states at 0% duty (F0308). Kenya still applies its own veterinary import conditions, which the buyer must confirm.

Ask the buyer for the import permit and the model health certificate before you buy any animals. The Director needs both to set the quarantine and tests.

How do customs and VAT work?

A licensed clearing and forwarding agent lodges the export declaration in TANCIS. TRA's export procedures page lists the invoice, packing list, TIN certificate, authorisation letter and the permits from the ministry responsible for livestock. TRA releases the goods after the documents and any examination clear.

Live animals sit on the list of exclusive items that TASAC clears under the clearing and forwarding regulations of 2025, GN 184 of 2025. TASAC's charge for livestock is USD 200 per bill of lading (F0390). Our guide to the customs clearing agent licence explains the agent's role.

Live animals carry no export tax. Section 55 of the VAT Act, Cap. 148, zero-rates exported goods (F0343). A VAT-registered exporter therefore charges 0% and can claim input tax on its standard-rated costs.

How does Zanzibar differ from the Mainland?

Livestock is not a Union matter. The Animal Diseases Act, the Meat Board and the Mainland movement permits do not run in Unguja or Pemba. Zanzibar's own law is the Animal Resource Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 11 of 1999), passed by the House of Representatives.

We found no later Zanzibar Act replacing the 1999 Act, but could not confirm that it is unamended. Animals moved from the Mainland into Zanzibar need the Zanzibar import permission as well as the Mainland papers. Customs remains a Union matter, so TRA handles the export entry at Zanzibar ports.

Worked example: 500 goats to a Gulf buyer

A citizen-owned company in Dar es Salaam contracts to ship 500 live goats by sea to a buyer in Oman. We assume a price of USD 110 per head FOB Dar es Salaam, so the contract is worth USD 55,000. This price is an illustration, not a market quote. The goats are bought at a secondary market in another district, moved once to the company's holding ground and then to the port on one bill of lading.

That is TZS 7,000 and USD 0.40 per goat. The export fee alone is 71.4% of the TZS total. The two currencies are kept apart, as each authority bills in its own.

The figures leave out feed, vaccines, the holding ground, sea freight, the clearing agent's charges and the buyer's import permit. A second movement permit would apply if the goats crossed another district on the way to the port. Zatra's professional fee for preparing the file is a separate line, quoted on our pricing page, and is never folded into these government charges.

What to do now

1. Get the buyer's papers first. Obtain the import permit and the model health certificate from the buyer before you buy animals.
2. Register the business. Hold a BRELA registration, a TIN, a tax clearance and the Class A exportation licence for cattle or other livestock.
3. Register with the Meat Board. Obtain the Tanzania Meat Board certificate and renew it each year.
4. Open a MIMIS account. Register the company on MIMIS so permits can be requested online.
5. Buy identified animals. Buy only identified animals at registered markets and keep the market records.
6. Move with permits. Take a movement permit for every trip from the market to the holding ground and the port.
7. Quarantine and test. Hold the animals under veterinary supervision for the period and tests the buyer requires.
8. Apply for the export papers. Request the Director's export permit and health certificate, and the Board's clearance, before the vessel or flight cut-off.
9. Clear through TANCIS. Have a licensed agent lodge the declaration with every permit attached and book TASAC clearing.

Key dates

How Zatra helps

Zatra's import and export compliance team prepares MIMIS applications, the Meat Board file and the document pack for each consignment. Our business licensing service obtains the Class A exportation licence, and our sector permits service coordinates the Ministry, the Board and NEMC. Our guide to exporting from Tanzania lists the company documents every export file needs, and the guide to phytosanitary certificates covers feed and plant cargo. See also the agriculture and trade desk.

Permit fees, export fees and TASAC charges are paid by the client to each authority at the official rate against its control number. They are separate from Zatra's professional fee; our note on professional fees and government fees explains the split. The government fees handbook lists the official figures.

The Director of Veterinary Services, the Meat Board, BRELA, TRA, TASAC, the importing country and the Zanzibar authorities decide every permit and certificate. Zatra prepares and coordinates the file; it does not decide or guarantee any authority's outcome. Seizures, forfeiture, prosecutions, disputes with a buyer and formal legal opinions go to Zatra's advocate.

Sources and status

Accurate as at 20 October 2026. Settled: the Director's export permit, Meat Board registration, the Class A exportation lines and the per-head fees. Verify: Meat Board fees, the health certificate fee and the donkey position. Unknown: the Zanzibar trader registration and fees.

• Animal Diseases Act, 2003: FAOLEX copy of Act No. 17 of 2003. Accessed 20 Oct 2026.
• GN 28 of 2007, Act No. 12 of 2010 and Act No. 18 of 2008: TanzLII, 2007 to 2010. Accessed 20 Oct 2026.
• Meat Industry Act, 2006 and Zanzibar Act No. 11 of 1999: Policy Vault Africa copies. Accessed 20 Oct 2026.
• Livestock movement guide, 2025 and budget speech, May 2024: Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. Accessed 20 Oct 2026.
• Export procedures: TRA, 2026. Accessed 20 Oct 2026.
• CTI, 2023; Mwananchi, 10 Jan 2023; The Donkey Sanctuary, 21 Jun 2022; The Citizen, 1 Jun 2025: linked in the text. Accessed 20 Oct 2026.

Figures to confirm before you act

• Chapter number: the tanzanialaws print shows Cap. 156; the Ministry's 2025 guide prints Sura 159
• Meat Board fees: registration, renewal and clearance fees are not in our register; the Board assesses them
• Health certificate fee: not a separate register line; the Ministry assesses it with the permit
• Donkeys: confirm in writing whether the Director issues live donkey export permits
• Quarantine period: set by the importing country; 21 days is the CTI description, not a statutory minimum
• Worked example: the USD 110 price, one movement leg and one bill of lading are assumptions
• Register lines cited: Zatra Handbook 06 register at 26 September 2026; the control number governs on payment

This article is general information based on official sources available at the date of publication. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws and notices change. Verify with the issuing authority or consult Zatra before acting.