Agricultural change - prospects for the future: a case study from the southern highlands of Tanzania.

Birch-Thomsen, T. (1990) Agricultural change - prospects for the future: a case study from the southern highlands of Tanzania. Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, 29 (1). pp. 146-160.

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Abstract

The transition from traditional fallow systems to more permanent cultivation has occurred in wide areas of the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. This change in agricultural practice is largely due to three factors: (a) the villagization programme; (b) introduction of hybrid maize along with biochemicals; and (c) the development of animal traction. An increase in productivity per acre has turned the region into a surplus producer, delivering maize to areas with a supply deficit. However, some problems have emerged which may hamper positive developments in the future. Social differentiation has been reinforced as a result of unequal access to production factors thereby hindering the upward social mobility of the poor peasantry. The pressure on land has increased as a consequence of the high population growth rate, concentration of the rural population into villages and the increase in continuous mono-cropping. This leads to a reduced capability of the soils to retain nutrients leading to soil mining and degradation of the soil structure. Furthermore, the introduction of ox-mechanization has caused a change in the labour bottleneck from land preparation to weeding which, in the end, enforces the social differentiation.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Tanzania
Author Affiliation:	Geografisk Centralinstitut, Oster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Subjects:	Social Sciences > Agricultural Extension,Technology, ICT
Divisions:	General
Depositing User:	Mr Siva Shankar
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2012 11:39
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2012 11:39
URI:	http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/8429

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