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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Fast Crops, Fast Cash: Market Liberalization and Rural Livelihoods in Songea and Monogoro Districts, Tanzania
Author:Ponte, StefanoISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:Canadian Journal of African Studies
Volume:32
Issue:2
Pages:316-348
Language:English
Geographic term:Tanzania
Subjects:agricultural policy
cash crops
rural households
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Economics and Trade
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/486152
Abstract:The economic reforms carried out under structural adjustment programmes in Tanzania since 1984 have brought a wave of changes in farming practices and rural livelihoods. According to the objectives of these programmes, agricultural policy reforms were supposed to open new market opportunities for farming households, help farmers to diversify their crop cultivation, and ameliorate farmers' terms of trade, therefore raising their farm incomes. This article demonstrates that the combination of agricultural market liberalization and the increased commercialization of rural life in two Tanzanian districts, Songea and Morogoro, - has led to 1) private traders conquering an increasing share of crop markets; 2) farmers switching from slow to fast growing cash crops; 3) farmers switching from cash crops requiring high input use to those requiring low input use; 4) farming households gaining lower net farm incomes as a result of higher crop expenditures and lower gross incomes from crop sales. The crucial question is whether farmers will continue to cultivate fast crops as net incomes from crop sales continue to fall. The author conducted fieldwork from June 1995 to November 1996 in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and Songea towns, and three villages in each of the two districts. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French.
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