Co-operatives as a Way to Improve Food Security and for Poverty Alleviation in Tanzania

Marketing channels of agricultural surplus is important for improving food security in most African countries. The co-operative business form offers one way for smallholder and intermediate size farmers to sell their surplus. Twelve Tanzanian co-operatives were studied by semi-structured interviews to find out if the co-operative business model can reduce poverty and address food security. Four types of co-operatives were identified: traditional co-operatives, reforming co-operatives, new co-operatives and co-operatives with some innovations. Both cases of poorly working unions and more recent success stories were found. A number of features characterizing good co-operative work in Tanzania were identified. A number of recommendations to promote business, reduce poverty and enhance food security were given