Smallholder livelihoods and the marketing of milk : a case study of dairying in the Mvomero district of Tanzania : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agriculture at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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2024-12-23
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Massey University
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Abstract
Smallholder dairying is undergoing a transition from subsistence to commercial farming in Tanzania. There are ongoing efforts to promote commercial dairying in Tanzania because it is regarded as a potential pathway for reducing poverty among smallholder farmers. The Tanzania Government and other development agencies have been implementing and supporting several programs, projects, and initiatives to enhance dairying-derived households to integrate into formal dairy markets. Promotion of commercial dairying regards income as the key option for enhancing the livelihoods of the smallholders, and hence poverty alleviation. Such notions are aligned with much of what has been reported in research focusing on commercial dairying, where market participation is regarded as the best option for improving smallholders and eventually, their livelihoods. Limited research has provided on other aspects of smallholders’ livelihoods, beyond income, which may be crucial in promoting commercial dairying. By employing a livelihoods approach through pathways concept, this study aims to explore how smallholders coordinate during milk market participation and why. Through such, this study brings more emphasis on the need to incorporate other aspects beyond income, which reflect on smallholders’ actual livelihood circumstances and self-processes that also contribute to their livelihood outcomes. Through the livelihood lens, the concept of coordination provided a crucial contribution to the understanding of how smallholders participate in formal and informal milk markets in Tanzania. This way provided a broader understanding of how smallholders get to participate in the dairy markets in the way they do, and eventually paved the way to developing best-bet strategies for poverty alleviation which reflect on their actual settings.
Smallholders coordinated in the formal and informal milk markets at variable levels within and across their four social groups, where patterns were evident in their tribal identity, kinship relations, roles of men and women, and dynamics of household milk consumption. Differences across the smallholders’ social groups were evident in the aspect the nature of dairying was attached to their institutions of identity and marriage, where the Maasai emerged to have stronger links than the Mbulu and Sukuma tribal groups. Similarities across such tribal-affiliated groups emerged in their women’s identity around milk. The smallholders belonging to Maasai and Mbulu coordinated by strongly deriving on their tribal networks in accessing milk markets. The four social groups also varied in the ways their family members' networks were important in the access to labor, milk markets, and use of the income obtained from selling milk, whereas the Maasai had significant levels of involvement of their family members’ networks as compared to others. The similarities in milk consumption across the four groups emerged as evident in their common tendency to retain a portion of milk for household nutrition. However, there were increasing trends of portioning more milk to go for commercial exchanges rather than retaining household nutrition among some Maasai smallholders. The roles of men and women remained significantly linked to the traditional than non-traditional arrangements across the smallholders’ groups, but trends are shifting because of the growing demand in the formal markets and increasing recognition of the contribution of milk to household income.
The study highlights that the smallholders’ coordination during milk market participation is produced through diverse patterns that are associated with gender, the extent of dependence on cattle and milk for their livelihoods, and adherence to their cultural institutions and norms. The increase in cash transactions around milk is an important market factor while the impact of social and cultural capital remains significant as non-market factors, in influencing smallholders’ coordination. The transition towards commercial dairying such as market formalization is significant in challenging, transforming, and undermining the smallholders’ existing sociocultural institutions and norms associated with coordination during smallholders’ participation in formal and informal milk markets.
Based on the key findings, this study contends for a thorough consideration of the complexity and diversity of smallholders when designing and implementing strategies for poverty alleviation in Tanzanian rural areas. The study acknowledges the significant complementarity of social, human, and financial capital through milk, which is essential in the strategic planning and implementation of the rural development policies. In addition, the study emphasizes the realization of the values that agricultural products carry beyond monetary, and how such may implicate in strategizing poverty reduction. Lastly, the study argues that culture is among the key factors to be considered in promoting commercialization. The theoretical usefulness of employing the coordination concept in the livelihood analysis, for providing an in-depth understanding of smallholders’ market participation and enlightening the importance of understanding social agency in influencing livelihood actions is highlighted. Therefore, more research is required to explore different contexts of culture and their implication in milk market participation or commercialization, their implication in facilitating access to various opportunities for vulnerable groups; and understanding the dynamics of men and women in engaging with a mix of milk markets, and their perceptions.
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market participation, coordination, cultural capital, commercialization