Agricultural price policy in Tanzania

This paper examines agricultural price policy implementation and its strategic impact in Tanzania over the period 1969-1980. Trends in producer prices and the rural-urban terms of trade are analysed by constructing weighted price and income indices for major categories of crops marketed through official channels. The results indicate a substantial deterioration of real prices and incomes from crop sales during the 1970s. When taken in conjunction with a concomitant deterioration in the efficiency of agricultural marketing the analysis suggests that price policy has had a major adverse impact both on peasant living standards and on the economic performance of Tanzania since the mid-1960s.