Food Insecurity and the Social Division of Labour in Tanzania, 1919–85

Most studies of famine and the African food crisis stress how the socio-economic context influences the occurrence of food shortages. By contrast, this book argues that food insecurity itself influences the social and economic organization of the society. Through this approach, the author provides a new interpretation of the causes and consequences of Tanzania's present economic crisis. The book examines the effects of changing food availability on the functioning of the state, the market and clientage networks, over the past seven decades. The conclusion is that clientage is no less important than the state and market as an organizational force in Tanzanian society, and, under heightened food insecurity, the state and market lose ground to clientage. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Population/Food Production Capability Balance at the Outset of Industrialisation....Pages 3-8 The Relationship Between Population, the Social Division of Labour and Food Supply....Pages 9-17 Back Matter....Pages 18-18 Front Matter....Pages 19-19 Physical Determinants of Food Insecurity and Settlement....Pages 21-37 Characteristics of the Peasant Household Farming Unit....Pages 38-43 The Incidence of Household Food Inadequacy....Pages 44-51 Back Matter....Pages 52-55 Front Matter....Pages 57-57 Defining Extra-Household Social Institutions....Pages 59-64 The British Colonial State....Pages 65-70 The Asian Market....Pages 71-75 Native Authority Clientage....Pages 76-87 Back Matter....Pages 88-89 Front Matter....Pages 91-91 Food Supply for an African Wage-Labour Force, 1919–39....Pages 93-114 The Systematisation of Territorial Food Supply: 1939–50....Pages 115-124 Back Matter....Pages 125-127 Front Matter....Pages 129-129 The Re-ordering of the State and the Market....Pages 131-144 Cooperatives and Neighbourhood Clientage Exchange....Pages 145-159 Urban Growth and Food Adequacy....Pages 160-177 Back Matter....Pages 178-179 Front Matter....Pages 181-181 Merger of the State and Clientage....Pages 183-194 Parastatal Staple Food Management....Pages 195-210 Clientage and Crisis, 1979–85....Pages 211-221 Back Matter....Pages 222-224 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 Summary and Conclusions....Pages 227-261 Back Matter....Pages 262-285