Examines structural adjustment and stabilization policies in Tanzania from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. Formulates a model to analyse the effects of these policies on overall economic growth, sectoral performance, welfare and income distribution. Highlights the policy bias against agriculture, exchange rate devaluation and the behaviour of commodity markets. Includes a review of the transition to a free market economy since independence in 1961.

Includes summary of data on export crops, direct pricing policy distortions, and supply respsonse with trends in production of export crops.

Growth attributed to structural adjustment has benefited the population generally, shifting a significant portion of the population from below the poverty line to above it. Only that smaller fraction of the population with extremely low incomes was unable to benefit from the economy's improved performance - probably because the liberalization process that encouraged growth rewarded those with education, excluding from benefits those with little education.Ferreira measures structural adjustment's impact on growth and on the poor in Tanzania. Adjustment reforms have contributed to robust growth. The rural average per capita income in 1991 was, in real terms, significantly higher than in 1983. The Economic Recovery Program, launched in 1986, has positively affected income, although the increase is not yet reflected in such basic social indicators as infant mortality rates or levels of primary schooling.Structural adjustment appears to have benefited many poor households. The population living in poverty declined from 65 percent in 1983 to 51 percent in 1991. The population near the poverty line benefited the most, while those with extremely low incomes appear to have become somewhat poorer. Increases in the inequality of income distribution eroded some of the potential for poverty reduction that would have otherwise resulted from growth.In both years, the stock of human capital was low for the poor, as measured by educational achievement. Possibly the lower incidence but greater severity of poverty is attributable to a liberalization process that rewards those with education, who are better able to respond to new opportunities. This suggests the importance of improving the quantity and quality of education to increase the ability of the poor to benefit from market reforms. Targeting human capital investments to the very poor should be a high priority during adjustment.This paper - a product of the Transition Economics Division, Policy Research Department - is part of a larger effort in the department to study the social effects of transition.

Ponte (Centre for Developmental Research, Denmark) analyzes farmers' livelihood strategies during the upheavals of economic policy reforms in Tanzania. He argues that much of the debate on deregulation and market liberalization has been on a macro-level bases and has been based on aggregate data of dubious value, thus missing the realities of the farmer on the ground. He relates continent-wide information to the specificities of agricultural change, exploring agricultural change from colonial rule to the current day. Agricultural input and credit distributions systems at the district level are investigated and the implementation of liberalization policies are explored at the regional and district levels. Finally, the impact of liberalization on livelihood diversification, poverty, and inequality are portrayed. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Contract farming has received renewed attention recently as developing economies try to grapple with how to transform the agricultural sector and its associated value chains. This book examines different contract arrangements for selected crops, applying both qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to examine how contract farming affects smallholders and value chain dynamics in Tanzania. Major themes covered in the book include: contract farming policy; contract farming and value chain dynamics; contract farming adoption decisions; contract farming and income diversification. The authors also discuss alternative aspects of contract farming such as trust, conspiracy, empowerment and corporate social responsibility. The book presents original research from case studies conducted in Tanzania on sugarcane, tobacco, sunflower and cotton. These crops have a history of trials and errors with contract farming involving smallholders. Furthermore, they are targeted in national strategies as some of the main crops for establishment and upgrading of agro-industrial activities in Tanzania.