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Paper short abstract:

This paper presents Tanzanian smallholder coffee farmers’ conceptions of a good life and of desirable land use as well as their motivations and moral reasons for land use. It additionally scrutinizes interconnections or dependencies between these conceptions as well as motivations for land use.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I present results of my fieldwork with smallholder coffee farmers in Arusha and Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania, close to Mt Meru and Mt Kilimanjaro where land is a scarce natural resource. First, I present their conceptions of a good life, focusing on material and relational aspects for their own and their children’s lives as well as for their farms. Second, I present smallholder farmers’ visions of land use. These differ between their home gardens where they grow crops for home consumption and their farms where they cultivate crops for market use and staple foods. Finally, I present smallholder farmers’ motivations and (moral) reasons to use and cultivate their land the way they do. In doing so, I emphasize the possible connection between different conceptions of a good life and different visions of land use which result in different moral and practical reasons for cultivating a farm, engaging and teaching fellow farmers, using agro-chemicals, pride in being a farmer, and more. I will explore whether it is possible to identify different connections or dependencies between notions of a good life and land use options as I discuss their motivations and (moral) reasons.