Browsing by Author "Mbunda, Richard"

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    Peasant agriculture and the quest for food sovereignty in mainland Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2017) Mbunda, Richard
    Tanzania has an undisputable potential for production of food crops yet it faces recurrent food shortages. Over 80 percent of the food producers are peasants, who ironically are regularly affected by hunger. This study sought to interrogate the utility of the neoliberal food security framework, which has been guiding agricultural policies in the country. In light of the food sovereignty framework, the study examined the implications of international rules guiding agriculture and seeds for Tanzania’s peasantry; the level of the peasants’ control of the food production process; and the role of state in the food production and distribution. A cross-sectional research design was employed, where the wave three of the Tanzania National Panel Survey’s (NPS) data was used concomitant with qualitative primary data collected from the four major food producing ecological zones of Tanzania. Both quantitative and qualitative modes of analysis were deployed. Findings show that corporate interests in the Global North and lack of political will on the side of developed countries have hindered meaningful efforts by the international community to fight hunger in Third World countries. International rules guiding agriculture are hostile to the peasantry but Tanzania has been exempted from multilateral commitments to implement them. Notwithstanding the exemptions, Tanzania has been forced by donors and neoliberal international institutions to adopt the rules such as the UPOV model law of Plant Breeders Rights with tremendous negative consequences for the peasantry. The peasants lack control over the food production process while the state has failed to effectively support agriculture as the engine of the economy; embracing instead the neoliberal ideology, which is constantly pushing the state away from playing its developmental role. The study concludes that the food security framework, which is supporting a corporate model of agriculture, is unlikely to redeem the peasantry. The support and acceptance accorded to the food sovereignty framework found in the Global South indicates that it can be a panacea to the current problems affecting the peasantry in Tanzania. With its huge peasant population and the remnants of ujamaa, it is recommended in this study that Tanzania is an ideal country to adopt a food sovereignty framework to transform its ailing agriculture sector.
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    Resolution or containment? : an evaluation of direct negotiation and settlement facilitation in the Zanzibar conflict
    (Unversity of Dar es Salaam, 2010) Mbunda, Richard
    Zanzibar has been a conflict-torn society since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1992. The conflict has been characterized by sporadic acts of violence and a continuing political impasse in danger of escalating to an unmanageable level. Attempts were made by an external settlement facilitator (the Commonwealth) and the disputants, the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the main opposition party the Civic United Front (CUF), to resolve the conflict; nonetheless, they did not bring a lasting solution. This study sought to explain why these approaches failed to bring a lasting solution to the conflict. The study used a case study research design, to evaluate the two attempts employed to resolve the Zanzibar conflict. Findings show that the Commonwealth‟s initiative failed to help the conflicting parties to resolve the conflict inasmuch as it crafted settlement terms instead of empowering the parties to find a solution for their own problem. Also the Commonwealth failed to transform the hostile relationship of the parties, and it even lacked the staying power to guarantee the implementation of the democratic reforms it proposed. The direct negotiation approach, on the other hand, was constrained by the zero-sum nature of the issues under dispute, power superiority of one of the conflicting parties, complexity of the dispute, and the low intensity of the dispute. The study concludes that given the nature and context of the Zanzibar conflict direct negotiations and third-party settlement facilitation are unlikely to resolve the conflict. As the conflicting parties can no longer engage in a constructive dialogue, the study recommends that there should be an external intervention to directly mediate in the conflict, or the Union government should allow CUF and CCM Zanzibar to explore their historical grievances and become a more neutral and objective guarantor of the agreement. Further research is also recommended on the actors, their interests, and the strategies they use to see whether or not these issues are stumbling blocks to the peace initiatives.