Agricultural strategic partnerships and farmers, capabilities in Tanzania: What has (not) worked and why?
Judith S Kahamba，Xiuli Xu
Social Sciences & Humanities Open 12（2025）102031
Abstract: Agricultural Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly promoted as new institutional frameworks to introduce agricultural value chain technologies, transform subsistence farmers into independent commercial producers, and connect them to the global market. Using the case of Tanzania,s Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor (SAGCOT) agricultural strategic partnerships, this study questions the role of agricultural PPPs in integrating smallholder farmers into global value chains. It explicitly evaluates the partnership interventions and their contributions to the capabilities of smallholder farmers along the soybean and potato value chains. Through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with partnership actors, the study found that partnership efforts mainly targeted the production and marketing nodes to boost farm productivity and market access. The partnerships partly improved farmers, capabilities by increasing knowledge and good agronomic practices. However, they had a limited impact on access to and use of quality inputs, modern farming technologies, value addition, and marketing capabilities. The effect on production capabilities was constrained by the unsustainable supply of improved seeds and limited access to fertilizers and pesticides, resulting from the absence of arrangements for aggregating input acquisition. The findings also reveal that the partnerships created new markets; however, most farmers were unable to benefit from them due to a lack of market contracts and collective bargaining power among farmers. The study concludes that for agricultural PPP to transform subsistence farmers into commercial ones, it requires inclusive infrastructure development and strong institutions that promote interactions, facilitate technology flow, and address exploitative market structures.
Keywords: Agricultural strategic partnership; Farmers, capability; Agricultural value chain; SAGCOT
Full text download:
Agricultural strategic partnerships and farmers, capabilities in Tanzania: What has (not) worked and why? Judith S Kahamba，Xiuli Xu.pdf
Agricultural strategic partnerships and farmers, capabilities in Tanzania: What has (not) worked and why?
Judith S Kahamba，Xiuli Xu
Social Sciences & Humanities Open 12（2025）102031
Abstract: Agricultural Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly promoted as new institutional frameworks to introduce agricultural value chain technologies, transform subsistence farmers into independent commercial producers, and connect them to the global market. Using the case of Tanzania,s Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor (SAGCOT) agricultural strategic partnerships, this study questions the role of agricultural PPPs in integrating smallholder farmers into global value chains. It explicitly evaluates the partnership interventions and their contributions to the capabilities of smallholder farmers along the soybean and potato value chains. Through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with partnership actors, the study found that partnership efforts mainly targeted the production and marketing nodes to boost farm productivity and market access. The partnerships partly improved farmers, capabilities by increasing knowledge and good agronomic practices. However, they had a limited impact on access to and use of quality inputs, modern farming technologies, value addition, and marketing capabilities. The effect on production capabilities was constrained by the unsustainable supply of improved seeds and limited access to fertilizers and pesticides, resulting from the absence of arrangements for aggregating input acquisition. The findings also reveal that the partnerships created new markets; however, most farmers were unable to benefit from them due to a lack of market contracts and collective bargaining power among farmers. The study concludes that for agricultural PPP to transform subsistence farmers into commercial ones, it requires inclusive infrastructure development and strong institutions that promote interactions, facilitate technology flow, and address exploitative market structures.
Keywords: Agricultural strategic partnership; Farmers, capability; Agricultural value chain; SAGCOT
Full text download:Agricultural strategic partnerships and farmers, capabilities in Tanzania: What has (not) worked and why? Judith S Kahamba，Xiuli Xu.pdf
