Food insecurity in Tanzania in the context of neo liberalism: a case of Peasant Households in Mazae Ward, Mpwapwa District

This study explains the puzzle that, why despite of all the efforts that have been done to ensure food security in Tanzania, food insecurity incidences are increasing; and the impacts have been felt more by peasants than any other social class. By employing qualitative methodology and a conceptual framework of Accumulation by Dispossession, the puzzle was then addressed by explaining the underlying social forces, processes and relations that are responsible for peasants’ household food insecurity in Mazae ward, Mpwapwa District. This was done by raising three research questions; first what was the historical socio-economic context of food insecurity in Mazae ward? Second, how does peasant production system influence household food insecurity? And third, how does peasant food system influence food insecurity in peasants’ households? The study found that; food insecurity was not a social problem in the pre-colonial Mazae area. Seeds of food insecurity then were sowed within the context of colonialism. Similarly, the peasant production and food systems, as they have been informed by capitalism since colonial to neo liberal era, do influence household food insecurity in Mazae ward. The context of neo liberalism has intensified the situation through Accumulation by Dispossession as it continues to destroy all possible means of food production, distribution/utilization and access. Finally the study recommends that solutions of food insecurity and the associated social problems in Mazae ward in particular and Tanzania in general, must consider the history of world capitalist economy and its destructive policies. In so doing radical politicians who hold a scientific anti-capitalist ideology are needed. National and international affairs, national policies and development interventions must be interpreted, formulated and implemented under this ideology.