TRADE ROOTS IN TANZANIA - EVOLUTION OF URBAN GRAIN MARKETS UNDER STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT

As a result of the widespread introduction of market liberalization po licies in Tanzania, research into food marketing requires a radically different approach. This paper discusses the research methodology and findings from surveys of grain traders and urban grain-consuming house holds in five Tanzanian towns conducted during 1988, four years after the government started to succumb to IMF pressure to liberalize the ma rket distribution of staple foodstuffs. A single national market in st aple foodstuffs was not yet apparent. Trade networks were still relati vely rudimentary and unintegrated with distinct regional features. Con sequently the methodological approach adopted entails detailed empiric al study of the institutional development of food markets. In other wo rds, emphasis is placed on the evolution rather than the operation of the market.