ABSTRACT
According to the World Bank (1997), Tanzania ranks as the third poorest country in the world. It remains a primarily agrarian nation with roughly three-quarters of the population living on the land, engaged in low-yielding peasant agriculture. Not unlike other nations of the developing world, its policy makers must weigh economic development aims with political stability and welfare concerns. Nowhere is this more critically illustrated than in the arena of staple food policy. During the twentieth century, market demand has persistently expanded whilst peasant output has continued to fluctuate subject to climatic conditions. Shortfalls in marketed supply became an increasing, and not unfounded, fear. In this context, the organization of food marketing has preoccupied much of public policy debate until recently. Tanzania provides one of the most extreme examples of an about-face in food marketing. The present open market stands in stark contrast to the system of all-embracing state marketing for the preferred food grains that prevailed between 1973 and 1986. This chapter seeks to explore the tension between achieving marketing efficiency and ensuring an adequate national supply of the country’s basic staple food.
