Recent economic growth in Tanzania has been biased towards industry and services, denying farmers potential distributional benefits. Correcting this anomaly requires in part appropriate technologies to raise agricultural productivity. Attempts to either develop local tools or import advanced country technologies had limited benefits. Recent studies suggest that for poor producers in Tanzania, mechanisation technologies from emerging economies are more appropriate in relation to their production characteristics. However, being locked-in advanced country technologies means both market and non-market institutions responsible for mechanisation technology transfer in Tanzania have evolved to suite machines from the EU, Japan and USA. To accommodate the new market dynamic, where attention is shifting to emerging economies, modifications to the current technology transfer infrastructure are required. Using firm, farm and government level data on importation, distribution, usage and maintenance of tractors in Tanzania, this paper argues that the potential benefits of emerging economy tractors can be greatly enhanced if calculated attempts are made to modify the existing technology transfer and diffusion process.

The 2020 State of the Food Security and Nutrition World report suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may render 83 to 132 million people food insecure. The global south has been projected to be adversely affected by COVID-19 in terms of food and nutritional security. This potentially renders Africa off track in achieving SDG -2 of zero hunger by 2030. Ghana is a net importer of rice and how the sector responded to the global pandemic has received less traction in the agri-food system literature. There is skewed literature that concentrates on the global north. The paper employed a qualitative approach involving key informant interviews across 6 regions in Ghana. The study covered 48 Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs) and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) officers, 80 farmers, and 48 market leaders. We use one of the country's main food staple - rice to show the food (in)-security situation during the pandemic. We articulate that the use of the right food security conceptual and theoretical framing remains imperative in understanding food (in)-security. The findings showed price hikes during the imposition of lockdown affected access (physical and effective demand). Rice however remained available during and after the lockdown imposition. Ghana's rice production output was affected during the COVID-19. The ramification of COVID-19 on Ghana's rice sector was not dire but points to the vulnerability of the rice value chain to future pandemics. Important policy actions are needed to consolidate particular gains made in Ghana's planting for food and jobs to minimize rice imports.

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