VILLAGE COMMUNITIES, COOPERATION, AND INEQUALITY IN TANZANIA - COMMENTS ON COLLIER ET-AL

Findings of a study by Collier, Radwan and Wangwe (CRW) are contrasted with those of other quantitative/empirical studies, especially by the Economic Research Bureau (Dar es Salaam) and the author. The author argues that CRW overstate the economic significance of communal farming, and that they misconstrue the intentions of the ujamaa program as being basically redistributive. He suggests that futile exercises in communal production served the interests of influential, richer farmers, who had little desire to see ordinary peasants engage in effective cooperation and participatory control over their local economies. © 1990.