Paper short abstract:

Based on a seven-months field research, this paper looks at the local impacts on political dynamics of recent agri-food projects in Rufiji District, Tanzania. It highlights relations of power between government, elites, investors and local populations during acquisition and implementation processes.

Paper long abstract:

Tanzania has been very actively courting investors, arguing that they will ensure the country's agriculture modernization and economic development. Yet, the implementation of agri-food projects has revealed highly problematic, as many investors have failed to develop their land and start operations, thereby effectively dispossessing local communities from their rights to land without fulfilling any promises of economic development.

Based on a seven-months political ethnography conducted mostly in Tanzanian villages, this paper addresses this issue by asking: what effects do recent agri-food projects have on local political dynamics in Tanzania, and inversely, how do local dynamics influence the implementation of these projects?

Focusing on Rufiji District—one of the most targeted area for new agri-food investments in Tanzania, I analyze the political reconfiguration of power relations associated to recent agri-food projects, highlighting power dynamics between government, ruling elites, investors and local populations. I contend that the acquisition process of land for agri-business ventures is key in understanding their local impacts, and their failure to become operational. I show that central institutions' knowledge and control over investors is fragmented and incomplete, and I argue that this lack of capacity allows government authorities and leaders to play an active role in subverting central policies, partnering and covering-up for unproductive investors in order to keep 'eating'. Moreover, I argue that top-down directives and governance are undermining villages' capacity and power to hold investors accountable. Finally, by comparing land acquisitions in nine different villages, I draw attention to the importance of differentiating local political dynamics.