The Influence of Settlers’ Community in Shaping the Colonial Agricultural Marketing Policies in Tanzania

Abstract

When the British colonial government took over Tanzania, colonial officials championed and encouraged the inhabitants in Kilimanjaro to grow coffee along with settlers. The authorities gave priority to the local smallholders, relegating settlers to a minor role within colonial agriculture and the coffee economy in particular. This generated a vigorous protest among the settlers against the government policy. The tension would bring a number of remarkable developments, including the establishment of the Kilimanjaro Native Planters Association (KNPA) and, later, the promulgation of legislation regulating coffee farming and marketing via cooperatives, such as the Co-operative Societies Ordinance No. 7 of 1932 and the Native Coffee Control Ordinance No 26 of 1937. This paper examines the interlocked dimensions and intricacies related to the coffee industry policies, and their impact on agricultural policies in Kilimanjaro region as well as across the country. In particular, the paper discusses how the settlers’ opposition influenced the promulgation of segregative, monopolistic and protectionist legislations, and the role of control Boards in this process. To do so, this paper relies on existing literature as well as underutilized primary sources obtained from the Tanzania National Archives (TNA) in Dar Es Salaam.