Role of co-operatives in industrialization in Tanzania since independence

Abstract

This paper documents and discusses industrialisation efforts in Tanzania since the country’s 1961 political independence. It also dwells briefly on the roles of co-operatives in Industrialisation. It is based on secondary data and content analysis of the same. After documenting the key global, continental and sub-regional Industrialisation frameworks, the paper documents various Industrialisation efforts that have been undertaken in Tanzania. They range from the efforts undertaken by the first phase government under the presidency of Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere to those undertaken by the sixth phase government under the presidency of President Samia Suluhu Hassan. Generally, the efforts include various strategies such as basic and small-scale industries, agro-processing industries, import substitution industries, nationalisation and later privatisation of industries. There have been some successes in as far as the Industrialisation journey in Tanzania is concerned. However, there have been some challenges and solutions in the Industrialisation efforts in Tanzania. In totality, there have been relatively good results of the various Industrialisation efforts in Tanzania but areas of improvements remain. It is documented that co-operatives have potential for successful Industrialisation in Tanzania if some prerequisites are fulfilled. Going forward, it is important to bench-mark Tanzania’s Industrialisation efforts to various global, continental and sub-regional frameworks as well as learning from successful countries and from Tanzania’s earlier Industrialisation efforts.