Smallholder Cotton Production in Tanzania: Emerging Issues on Accountability in Kilosa District, Morogoro

Abstract

Traditional cash crop production in Tanzania has been declining with time. While some natural, infrastructure and marketing factors have been known to contribute to low agricultural productivity, reasons related to accountability on the part of officials managing different organs have been little known. This paper discusses emerging accountability issues on the part of government and other service providing institutions as far as cotton production in Kilosa District and more specifically in Malui Village is concerned. A cross-sectional research design that allows collection of information at one point in time was adopted covering several cases. Data for the study were collected through interviews of key informants and farmers, physical observations, documentation and meeting with village government. The emerging findings show that limited access of smallholders to sufficient and fertile land, appropriate farm inputs and reliable markets due to lack of effective accountability on the part of local government, cotton board, cooperatives and private traders has been among the responsible factors for the declining production of cotton. Establishing the right structures and enforcement mechanisms for accountability can disentangle smallholder agriculture from persistent, chronic dissatisfactions of farmers.

Rural Institutions in Flux: Lessons from Three Tanzanian Cotton‐Producing Villages

“…It is no surprise that the debate on Tanzanian export agriculture has therefore progressively moved towards an analysis and appreciation of these institutional challenges. In doing so, questions persist as to how best private and non‐state actors can engage to remedy the problems (Itika and Makauki ; Tschirley et al. ).…”