Impact of Agricu1tura1 Policies on Fanning Business by Members of Rura1 Producer Organisations in Tanzania

Abstract

The degree of poverty in many countries has become an issue of concern for many actors: policy makers, development practitioners, academics and the development partners. Since many developing countries depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, significant reductions in poverty hinges, to a large extent, on the development of this key sector in the respective national economies. Thus, meaningful poverty reduction initiatives will, at least in the short to medium-term, depend on the collective actions of the producers, governments, rural producers’ organisations, and support agencies in stimulating and sustaining broad based agriculture-led economic growth. This study is a continuation of studies on Policies and Rural Producer Organisations under the Business Experiences Exchanges Programme (BEEP) being implemented in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Whereas the previous study focused largely on formulation of macro-economic policies and the role of RPOs in policy formulation and influencing it, this study concentrates on the micro-level; it assesses the impact of policies on the farming businesses by members of RPOs. This study discusses social and economic impacts of agricultural-reform policies on the farming activities undertaken by smallholder producers. This study covered four regions of the Tanzania mainland, namely Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Morogoro and Dodoma.