Shocks, Agricultural Productivity, Self‐Help Groups and Food Security in Tanzania

ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether negative shocks constrain agricultural productivity and household food security. It also examines the mitigating role of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS) and self‐help groups (SHGs) in cushioning households against the adverse effects of shocks on agricultural productivity and food security. Using nationally representative panel data from Tanzania and household fixed effects, the results reveal that negative shocks significantly reduce productivity. When disaggregating by type, we find that weather‐related and covariate shocks exert larger negative effects than idiosyncratic shocks. Heterogeneity analysis shows that land‐poor and poor households are more severely affected than land‐rich and non‐poor households. Shocks also reduce food security in Tanzania, with results robust across multiple measures, shock types, and household subsamples, that is, poor and non‐poor households. Furthermore, the results reveal that neither SACCOS membership nor membership in SHGs has a significant mitigating effect on agricultural productivity or food security.