COMPETITION IN TANZANIAN WOODFUEL MARKETS

Most people in urban Tanzania, as in countries throughout Africa and t he world, depend on woodfuels as their subsistence energy source. Desp ite this, very little is known about the system that supplies woodfuel to the urban sector. Consequently, policy makers cannot know whether improvements are needed in the system or if it is better left as it is . This study, based on survey data and other information gathered in T anzania in 1990, finds the woodfuel delivery system to be the only fue l delivery system in the country with consistent uninterrupted supplie s. The competitiveness and efficiency of the woodfuel supply system ar e evaluated, concluding that although improvements in some areas, most notably transport, are needed, the system works in a largely efficien t and competitive atmosphere in the three cities studied. Recommendati ons for improvements that would leave the system in its present, relat ively unregulated state are presented, including fee adjustments that would involve local participation in the setting, collecting and disbu rsement of fees, a reorganization of the fuel transport system, and th e creation of additional forest reserves and catchment areas.