Agricultural decline in Tanzania: the case of the Uluguru mountains

This article describes social and economic change over the last thirty years in the Mgeta division of Morogoro rural district in Tanzania's Uluguru mountains. Over this period, Mgeta has become more and more involved in wider networks of economic exchange. The area faces an increasing food deficit; reliance on vegetable cultivation for the urban markets increases, as well as the dependency on migration to the cities. These economic changes are reflected in changes in the social structure of Mgeta. Earlier descriptions of the area give paramount importance to the matrilineal lineage which regulated access to land. Nowadays, this locally based structure has given way to small kinship groups which mostly depend on links outside the area for access to cash. Adopting an actor-oriented perspective, the article stresses the possibility for actors to shape development in a particular direction, and shows that social and economic change in Mgeta has not been as determined by central forces as some macroeconomic perspectives would suggest. App., notes, ref