An overview of the role of the Tanzanian government in the development of markets, institutions and transport infrastructure is presented. Also, the micro-level effects of various government policies and policy instruments are assessed. The chapter concludes by summarizing the roles of private entrepreneurs and farmers, and by discussing how these groups have influenced the food crop intensification and self-sufficiency in the country.

The study examined the factors that influence farmers" choice of improved maize seed variety in Tanzania. Using purposive sampling data were collected from 930 households. The binary logistic regression model was used to choose respondent who had used improved maize seed from all seven agro-ecological zones of Mainland Tanzania. The results showed that agro-ecological zones, farm size, household size and yield positively influence the likelihood of farmers" choice of improved maize seed varieties. Based on these findings, it is recommended that researchers and suppliers of seed should consider the attributes of farmers" preference in the production of improved maize seeds and put more emphasis on facilitating the delivery of agricultural extension services for more effective uptake of agricultural technologies.

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This book contributes to the understanding of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa through addressing the dynamics of intensification and diversification within and outside agriculture, in contexts where women have much poorer access to agrarian resources than men. It uses a longitudinal cross-country comparative approach, relying on the Afrint dataset—unique household-level longitudinal data for six African countries collected over the period 2002–2013/15. The book first descriptively summarizes findings from the third wave of the dataset. The book nuances the current dominance of structural transformation narratives of agricultural change by adding insights from gender and village-level studies of agrarian change. It argues that placing agrarian change within broader livelihood dynamics outside agriculture, highlighting country- and region-specific contexts is an important analytical adaptation to the empirical realities of rural Africa. From the policy perspective, this book provides suggestions for more inclusive rural development policies, outlining the weaknesses of present policies illustrated by the currently gendered inequalities in access to agrarian resources. The book also provides country-specific insights from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia.

In Tanzania, structural adjustment policies implemented during the 1980s removed all agricultural subsidies. However, declining productivity and production of maize and rice—the main food crops—forced the government to restore subsidies in 2003. This chapter examines the impact of the agricultural input subsidy programme, looking at farmers’ response to subsidized inorganic fertilizer and improved maize and rice seed—discerning gender and temporal impacts. Farmers in Iringa and Morogoro were highly responsive to the fertilizer and seed components of the input subsidy, and their response was sensitive to the magnitude of the subsidy. Farmers in Morogoro were less responsive to both technologies due to dominance of rice production. Adoption was lower for female-managed farms, with corresponding lower livelihood outcomes, attributed to lower resource endowment. It is therefore recommended that underperforming farmers, including female farm manages in lower wealth ranks, required initiative to improve their productivity and production.