Fast Crops, Fast Cash: Market Liberalization and Rural Livelihoods in Songea and Morogoro Districts, Tanzania

Liberalization of agricultural markets in Tanzania has opened new opportunities in terms of which crops farmers can grow and sell.On the other hand, market forces have made access to agricultural inputs and credit more problematic.Because of the increasing commercialization of rural life, farming households also need to raise cash more often throughout the year.Farmers have responded to these changes by increasing their sales to private traders, and by switching from slow to fast crops and from high-input crops to low-input crops.However, because of higher input prices, and higher labour and marketing costs required by fast crops, rural households have failed to raise their farm incomes.