The Experience of Agricultural Market Liberalisation and Implications for Producers
Abstract
This paper offers a critical interpretation of the dominant narrative of the liberalisation of Tanzanian agriculture over the last decade and a half. This narrative seriously exaggerates the extent to which market liberalisation has been implemented for Tanzania’s main export crops, fails to recognise the powerful antiliberalisation forces within Tanzanian society, and has yet to acknowledge the recent recrudescence of statist legislation, policies and practices. On the other hand there has been a significant and sustained liberalisation of the markets for staple grains – maize and rice – and internal markets for these crops as well as for other grains, cooking bananas, pulses and other vegetables, and fruits are relatively efficient and competitive. The paper briefly describes the nature of market liberalisation using the examples of maize, coffee and tobacco, and includes an analysis of the liberalisation of trade in fertiliser.
Citation
Cooksey, B. The Experience of Agricultural Market Liberalisation and Implications for Producers. (2002) 24 pp. [LADDER Working Paper No.16]
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