Agrarian change and land-use strategies among Iraqw farmers in northern Tanzania

Abstract

This paper explores the variety of factors which influence Iraqw fanners' land-use strategies in northern Tanzania. Based on archival research, oral history, and detailed field research, this study illustrates the ways in which access to and availability of resources through social networks and markets over time are critical to farmers' decisions about how to use their labor and land. This detailed local study of agrarian change examines how wider, regional processes of change affect local conditions. It demonstrates that population growth neither results automatically in intensification nor in degradation of the resource base. The paper also attempts to explore how ideas about farming and “progress” shape farmers' decisions about land use.