Energy sources and uses in Tanzania’s Moshi rural district, 1940s - 2010

This dissertation examines the forces that influenced changes in the sources and uses of energy in Moshi Rural District from the 1940s to 2010. It also examines the ways in which those changes affected the local communities in the District. The study used a qualitative approach, integrating information from oral and written sources. The findings revealed that in the late 1930s the British colonial administration introduced forest regulations which denied local people in Moshi Rural District access to wood fuel from them. This led to a decline in the availability of wood fuel in the District especially from the 1940s. The decline continued through the post-colonial period due to the implementation of development initiatives which did not give priority to ensuring the availability of fuel. Other sources of energy that were used in the colonial and early post-colonial periods were kerosene and electricity. The supply of these sources increased notably in the 1960s and 1970s, but this trend changed later following the world oil crisis of the 1970s. Other changes, which occurred in the context of the economic hardships that came with the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programs in the 1990s included commercialization of wood fuel, increased cost of electricity and kerosene, introduction of improved cooking stoves and the use of solar energy and crop residues. Our general argument is that these changes were influenced by many drivers that emanated from within local communities as well as from national and global contexts; and that they affected the lives of people in Moshi Rural District in various ways.