Rural and Agrarian Transformation 1984–2018 in Three Marginal Villages in Njombe Region, Tanzania

Abstract

When the author of this chapter first visited the region he encountered a place that was characterized by very high levels of poverty. These villages had not been able to benefit from state investment in maize production. However, changes in agricultural production, migration of people outside the area, and remittances, and in particular the explosion of tree farming, tomatoes, and potatoes in a relatively rich area, combined with infrastructural improvements, have been transformative. Change here has been driven by a mutually interlinked set of processes entailing agricultural transformation involving changing farming and rural transformation in a changing rural economy. This is visible in changes to asset ownership as well as relational and social well-being.