ABSTRACT
Consumption and production aspects are fairly closely linked in the home economies of Rukwa Region, since maize is not only the staple food but also the most important cash crop. Since the mid-1970s consumption patterns have clearly shifted towards maize. A reversion to finger millet would be regarded as retrograde and is almost universally rejected by the population. 246 However, with the collapse of the parastatal marketing system and the end of the subsidized marketing of maize from Rukwa Region the question of alternative cash crops is again open.
