Agricultural Policy 1961–1967

In the years before and after Independence, agricultural production expanded rapidly. Many settlers left and sisal production declined, but production by African farmers grew. Nyerere, however, was unhappy that much of this increase came from a small number of larger African farmers, and that the majority stayed dependent on cultivation by hand on small plots. The ‘transformation approach’, initially promoted by the World Bank, was an attempt to gain economies of scale by settling farmers on new land and by using tractors. By 1966 it was apparent that it had failed, in all but a few places. There were also problems with the ‘improvement approach’, which involved persuading small farmers to adopt improved technologies. The situation was exacerbated when force was used. Despite all of these problems, many farming families worked harder, found money for school fees, improved their houses and purchased more consumer goods.