Effects of Food Crops Commercialization on Smallholders’ Food Security in Southern Tanzania

Commercialization of smallholders farming is fronted as a panacea for both rural poverty and food insecurity. Through the use various policies and strategies such as the National Trade Policy (2003); National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (2010); Agricultural Marketing Policy (2008); National Agriculture Policy (2013); and the National Five-Year Development Plan (2021/22 to 2025/26, the government of Tanzania have consistently promoted commercialization of agriculture. This has led to increasing commercialization of food crops for over two decades now. However, emerging evidences show that commercialization of foods crops has negative effect on smallholder’s food security. This paper assessed circumstances under which commercialization of food crops could lead to household food insecurity among smallholders. Purposive sampling was used to obtain 120 households from a highly food crop commercialized district of Iringa in Southern Tanzania. Results shows that three scenarios could lead to food insecurity among smallholders namely; low productivity of commercialized food crops, shifting away from traditional food crops such as cassava, wheat and sorghum, sweet and round potatoes that used to enhance food security, and specialization which exposes smallholders to shocks and uncertainties. It recommends that commercialization of food crops should go hand in hand with enhanced productivity and diversification.