THE PERIURBAN ZONE OF DAR-ES-SALAAM, TANZANIA - RECENT TRENDS AND CHANGES IN AGRICULTURAL LAND-USE

Much research on peri-urban areas focuses on cities in advanced capitalist economies. Two of the main areas of interest, those of changing land-use and of conflicts between interest groups, are perhaps of less relevance to the peri-urban zones of contemporary African cities. This paper discusses changing land-use patterns around the city of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and interprets this change in the broader context of the changing political economy in Tanzania during the 1980s. It is suggested that agricultural expansion in the early 1980s in Dar es Salaam's peri-urban zone was essentially adopted as a survival strategy, as urban incomes and living standards were squeezed. Since the mid-1980s, with the advent of 'economic liberalization', there has been continued expansion of agriculture in this area, but increasingly with the emphasis slowly moving from satisfying immediate household needs towards more commercial output. The peri-urban zone of Dar es Salaam is currently one of considerable dynamism.